Developing countries, which have for many years depended on USAID funding for necessary medicines, vaccines and supplies, including for SRH, are facing a harsh reality. One African country, for example, has received a shipment from USAID, which in the first place it wasn’t sure it was going to get. The funding for in-country distribution of the medicines, however, was cancelled. Fortunately, the Government was able to find money for the necessary distribution. But what will happen when the stocks run out?
The dilemma facing countries that have relied on USAID for many years is how to mitigate against total disasters and loss of life through the non-availability of life-saving drugs. And as far as women will be affected — loss of life, for one example, through resort to unsafe abortion, after becoming pregnant resulting from lack of access to contraception, let alone safe abortion care. Thus, an African speaker in a recent international conference was heard to say that the time had come for Africans to depend on themselves, instead of international aid.
SOURCE: Marianne Haslegrave, Personal communication, 19 March 2025.