Trump’s expenditure of expenses brings women in mortal danger

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Lerato Khumalo

Experts expect thousands of dead

They suffer the most from Trump’s expenditure of expenses

04.02.2025 – 3:50 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.

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US President Donald Trump (archive picture): The stopping of expenditure could hit women around the world. (Source: Jacquelyn Martin/AP/dpa/dpa pictures)

The consequences of Donald Trump’s funding stop for development aid are expected to be catastrophic. Now an UN agency is alarm.

After the US expenditure stop for development aid, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is concerned about the well-being of millions of women and children worldwide. In the Asia-Pacific region, health programs of more than $ 70 million have been suspended, which the US government under President Donald Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had already made available, reported the unfpa director for the region, PIO Smith, in Geneva.

If the US funds no longer come, 1,200 women will die in complications in pregnancy or birth in Afghanistan alone in the next four years, Smith said. There will also be an additional 100,000 unplanned pregnancies.

UNFPA supports health programs in more than 100 countries that help, among other things, with family planning and prevent unwanted pregnancies. UNFPA advises on contraception. According to its own statements, the organization does not promote or finance abortions.

The new US government had imposed the expenditure stop to check which programs are compatible with Trump’s priorities. It is still unclear which will be financed again after the exam.

In all UN organizations there is confusion what exactly the US government wants, Smith said. UNFPA, however, stopped the planned use of the US funds in 16 countries with immediate effect. Hundreds of mobile clinics and other facilities are affected, around 1,700 employees lose their work, said Smith.

Trump says that the United States has to pay far too much everywhere. In fact, the United States is by far the largest donor in many UN organizations. This is due to the country’s economic strength. If you look at the development aid in relation to the gross national income of the countries, the USA was in 25th place in 2023, according to the OECD industrialist organization, far behind the leading Norway, Luxembourg, Sweden, Germany and Denmark.