Insistentive abortion and prenatal care: Aid strikes strike the most difficult women in one of the poorest countries in Africa | Global Development
A Blue, Burgundy and white engraved cover hiding the flatulence of the Joanna Panda belly. After eight months, she had only three of the previous dates of the birth that should have been. It is unlikely to be attended by the last three as well, as it still has to save 3000 KWACHA (1.28 pounds) for a bike to take it Six miles on the dirt routes to the nearest health center when you enter labor.
In remote villages in Malawi, pregnant women such as Panda, who is 22 years old, struggles with one child after being lost for the first time after birth, to obtain the medical care they need.
In January, US aid discounts suddenly ended a rural health care awareness program that began to reduce the number of local women who died in childbirth.
Tecose Omoio momentumAnd a five -year program of 28 million dollars (20 million pounds) aimed at reducing the rates of mother and breastfeeding mortality in five Malawi provinces of 28 provinces, which was supposed to continue until 2027.
It is just one of the many victims of Donald Trump’s decision to suspend external aid just hours after he took office in January, risk the lives of some of the most powerful and weak people in the world. In July, Congress approved $ 9 billion of discounts for help and public broadcasting. Last month, the US president said he would cancel $ 4.9 billion as already accredited by Congress.
Kafulaatira, where Panda lives, is a village of clay scattered huts with nearly 1,000 people in the Salaima area, east of the capital, Lilongoy. There is no water or electricity, and a bridge has been washed through the attached river that it divides from the nearest health center last December.
A mobile clinic is used to visit society every month or so, which provides a special space for women to obtain a cervical examination and other types of cancer, HIV tests, treatment, and vaccines for children. It also provided prenatal and family planning services, including contraceptives.
“The awareness clinics were helping a lot, because we could access the services here in the village,” says Molirani Gerrard through a translator. “Since last year, we have been waiting for the team to come, so we were wondering what happened.” One of the villagers did not tell why health care was cut off.
Gerard says she was not severely affected, because she had a three -year -old birth control cultivated, but others were not very lucky. “It is a challenge, because this has led to unintended pregnancy,” says the 25 -year -old girl, referring to her friend Panda, while sitting in the shadow with other mothers while the children around them play.
Juliet Canda, a 31 -year -old mother, was receiving birth control every two months. As she says, she saves up to 10,000 kochs on a trip and forth 25 miles to another health center. “I look forward to getting [contraceptive] Sprinkle, taking into account the distances that I travel to to reach services. “
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. In 2024, the country of South Africa was overwhelming He entered only $ 508 per personAccording to the World Bank. It is incredibly subject to the climate crisis: 80 % of the population Work in agriculture It has been beaten by repeated hurricanes and dehydration in recent years. The country, which includes about 22 million people, relies heavily on aid.
Aid from the United States, both grants and low interest loans, represents 2 % of the country’s gross domestic product in 2024, according to what he said International Monetary Fund. This compares an average of 0.5 % across sub -Saharan Africa.
In 2023, the United States represents a quarter of all aid sent to Malawi, according to International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). In the previous year, the Global Development Center found that the American health spending It was more than twice the government of Malawi.
Malawi’s economy was already in the state of prefix before US aid discounts. Over the past three years, The inflation was above 20 %The economy has grown The slower of the populationThe scarcity of foreign exchange led to a lack of fuel, fertilizers and medicine. and IFPRI study In April, it was estimated that American aid would decrease by 59 % this year, reducing 1 % of Malawi’s gross domestic product.
The government had few means to compensate for the deficiency. The financial deficit of Malawi (the gap between government spending and revenues) reached 10.1 % in the year until March 31. However, his attempts to restore voters in the year of elections failed, as Lazaros Chakuerra lost to Peter Muttarsika in the elections on September 16.
“It is actually the government’s duty, but … the government does not have resources,” says Hessre Niasolo, Malafi Director at Amref Healtha, a Kenyan organization that was one of the seven momentum tikweze omoyo.
“The financing discounts should have been” a transitional process “, adding:” We have begun to reap the benefits of investment … ending the American Agency for International Development [funds] … will definitely lead to more deaths of pregnant women and patients, as well as newborns. “
Between January 2022 and December 2024, maternal mortality rates in clinics and hospitals decreased in three of the five regions covered by the project, according to the data provided by NYASULU. More children were vaccinated, their malaria was treated and their nutrition was monitored, and more women receive family planning services and prenatal care for the first offer, while Teenage load fell.
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In the Salima area, awareness clinics were held in 87 sites surrounding seven health centers, reaching between three to 10 societies every day of the week. Vehicles and employees were provided by the Ministry of Health, with lunch for fuel and employees by the United States Agency for International Development.
At the Makioni Health Center, a small town of Souk, about 34 miles from the province’s capital, the evidence of breastfeeding that was drawn on the wall was described: “The American Agency for International Development: from the American People.”
Employees there inherit how pregnant women have prenatal dates at all or not at all and a decrease in cervical cancer tests. The two employees say that two women between the ages of 18 and 20 years have survived the unsafe abortion, which they underwent because she lived 17 miles from the clinic.
“It has increased the burden of work in [health] “The facilities are, and then the quality of bad services is provided,” says Johann Pilat, the provincial family planning coordinator.
“We fail to give them services in their place,” says Samuel Shawka, director of the Makioni Health Center.
A US State Department spokesman said: “The United States government supports life -saving assistance in Malawi, including about $ 160 million to support efforts to treat HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and other critical health risks,” said a US State Department spokesman.
“America is still the most generous nation in the world. It is necessary to remember that the American taxpayer was never supposed to bear the full burden of caring for every person on the face of the earth – whether it is with food, medicine or otherwise.”
However, even in Malawi cities, health care quality decreases. In Lilongwe, the United States has previously funded health workers training to find and manage TB. Thoms Chieda, TB coordinator in the province, says there was a decrease in the number of cases discovered and referred for treatment.
He says: “If people are not diagnosed early enough, it will be difficult for them to treat them, and drug -resistant tuberculosis can flourish.
Maclean Nkhoma, the city’s fortification coordinator, said before American aid discounts, 11,000 children have been fortified every month. Now less than 9000, the infant fortification rate decreased from 98 % to 85 %, he says.
“they [the US] They supported us; They should continue. Because otherwise, what happens in Malawi or in Africa, such as outbreaks, will also affect this, “Nakhuma says:” If Africa is protected, then this means that the whole world is protected. “