ISLAMABAD: Effects of the suspension of all US foreign aid programmes have started to appear in Pakistan as over 60 health facilities will be closed down, leaving 1.7 million people, including 1.2m Afghan refugees, cut off from life-saving reproductive health services.
These health facilities in Pakistan were being administered by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The UNFPA’s Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Pio Smith, expressed his deep concern saying that millions of women and girls now face life-threatening risks due to the lack of access to UNFPA’s crucial services across Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
In response to the US administration’s decision to pause nearly all US foreign aid programmes pending a 90-day review, UNFPA has suspended services funded by US grants that provide a lifeline for women and girls in crises, including in South Asia, Pio Smith said.
“This is not about statistics. This is about real lives. These are literally the world’s most vulnerable people,”
