By Ameh George, with agency report
United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, has made a dire assessment of the global impact of deep cuts to grassroots humanitarian funding including healthcare in Nigeria by the U.S. government led by President Donald Trump and reiterated calls for to U.S. retain its position as a global aid leader, the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports.
AljazirahNigeria recalls that hours after Trump’s inauguration on January 20, he signed an executive order beginning America’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization, WHO.
WHO is a United Nation body founded in 1948 and includes 194 countries working together to fight public health challenges across the world.
The funding pause affects nearly all U.S. foreign aid programmes, pending a 90-day review.
NAN reports that UNFPA Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Pio Smith disclosed this at a news conference briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday.
Smith, said the agency was seeking “more clarity” from the administration “as to why our programmes are being impacted, particularly those which we would hope would be exempt” on humanitarian grounds.
Amid uncertainty about future U.S. funding, UNFPA’s Smith underscored the immediate impact on at-risk individuals in the world’s poorest settings.
“Women give birth alone in unsanitary conditions; the risk of obstetric fistula is heightened, newborns die from preventable causes; survivors of gender-based violence have nowhere to turn for medical or psychological support.
“We hope that the U.S. Government will retain its position as a global leader in development and continue to work with UNFPA to alleviate the suffering of women and their families as a result of catastrophes they did not cause”.
UNFPA works across the world including in Afghanistan, where more than nine million people are expected to lose access to health and protection services because of the U.S. funding crisis, it said.
“This will impact nearly 600 mobile health teams, family health houses and counselling centres, whose work will be suspended, Smith explained.
“Every two hours, a mother dies from preventable pregnancy complications, making Afghanistan one of the deadliest countries in the world for women to give birth. Without UNFPA’s support, even more lives will be lost at a time when the rights of Afghan women and girls are already being torn to pieces”.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, the global body’s coordination agency, said there had been no “layoffs or closing down access” in response to the executive orders.
Its spokesperson, Jens Laerke added that the agency’s country offices were “in close contact with local U.S. embassies to better understand how the situation will unfold”.
He explained that the U.S. Government funded around 47% of the global humanitarian appeal across the world in 2024, “that gives you an indication of how much it matters when we are in the situation we are in right now, with the messaging we’re getting from the government”.
The move followed the announcement that the new U.S. administration has placed the country’s principal overseas development agency, USAID, under the authority of the Secretary of State.
Staff from the agency had been locked out of their offices, while the head of the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency has accused USAID of criminal activity and a lack of accountability.
“Public name-calling won’t save any lives”, OCHA’s Mr Laerke said, while Alessandra Vellucci, head of the UN Information Service at UN Geneva, highlighted the UN Secretary-General’s appeal for a relationship of trust with the Trump administration.
“We are looking at continuing this work together [and listening]…if there are criticisms, constructive criticism and points that we need to review”, she told reporters, underscoring the “decades-long relationship of mutual support” between the UN and the US.
At the same scheduled press encounter, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Council responded to news reports that President Donald Trump planned to issue an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the 47-member world body.
The U.S. was a member of the Council from Jan. 1, 2022 to Dec. 31 2024, meaning that since Jan. 1 this year, it had been an “observer state…like any of the 193 UN member states that are not Council Members” , the Spokesperson Pascal Sim explained.
“Any observer state of the council cannot technically withdraw from an intergovernmental body that it is no longer part of”.
However, in Nigeria the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, has expressed gratitude to the U.S. government for granting a waiver on lifesaving HIV medicines and medical services, following the executive order suspending foreign aid spending for 90 days.
In a statement from NACA, signed by its Director-General, Dr. Temitope Ilori, highlighted the significance of the waiver, which ensures uninterrupted distribution of antiretroviral, ARV, drugs and other essential medical services for people living with HIV in the country.
The Trump administration’s recent Executive order, had sparked concerns among stakeholders in Nigeria’s HIV/AIDS response, given the country’s heavy reliance on external funding for treatment and care.
The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR, currently covers about 90% of the treatment burden in Nigeria, making it the largest donor to the nation’s HIV response.
