Across the 54 countries that benefit from the UNFPA Supplies Partnership, the funding gap for commodities could be as high as $186 million this year.
As a result, “We’re going to see more unintended pregnancies, girls dropping out of school, more women dying from unsafe abortions,” Sarah Shaw, MSI’s associate director of advocacy, tells Devex. “We know how this shakes out.”
This follows the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, but also major funding cuts by other donor governments.
On Wednesday, at a high-level event on the sidelines of UNGA, some donors and philanthropies stepped in to try to offset that gap, pledging nearly $600 million to UNFPA, including its Supplies Partnership, out of over $700 million in pledges for reproductive health commodities and services.
As traditional donors retreat, Emma Foster, UNFPA’s global policy adviser on sexual and reproductive health and rights, says they continue to look for new sources of funding, including from wealthy individuals.
This reorientation may be crucial, as Shaw says that family planning has long been particularly vulnerable to a reduction in traditional donor funding.
“It’s the one health area that never graduated away from donor support,” she says.
SOURCE: Devex CheckUp <checkup@devex.com>; Funders commit over $700 million for UNFPA, reproductive health