Investments in international aid do a lot of good – from protecting people in vulnerable situations to fostering economic growth. But recent cuts to international aid, including the US pause to almost all international aid for 90 days, the UK’s recent cuts to international aid, and others, hurt millions of people globally. As is all too often the case when crisis strikes, women and girls will face the harshest consequences.
Dr. Stellah Bosire, the Executive Director and Founder of the Africa Center for Health Systems and Gender Justice explains how societies will need to rally around women and girls to help protect their rights. Here’s a closer look.
“We will see a continued widening of heath inequities, and a regression in ways we understand diseases.”
The intersection of health and gender justice
The Africa Center for Health Systems and Gender Justice is a social enterprise led by women, for women, tackling the critical link between health and gender justice.
Women are not just patients — they are frontline health workers, advocates, and economic drivers in their communities. But when health systems are underfunded, women’s ability to care for their families, build businesses, and lead change is severely undermined.
“When we have a woman with HIV, children, we ask, ‘how do we improve her life?’ Economic independence.”
Cuts to health programs don’t just reduce care; they destabilize entire communities. Women-led organizations addressing gender-based violence, economic empowerment, and public health are at risk of shutting down. With the 90-day aid pause, that risk is now reality.
A cut to funding could be “fatal”
Shortly after the 90-day US international aid pause was announced, resulting in cuts to funding these critical organizations, Dr. Bosire set up a simple survey. The survey was for organizations to explain how they had been impacted and what the potential long-term outcomes of a pause to international aid would be for their communities.
She received responses from 275 organizations across 11 countries – all of them, she said, in sub-Saharan Africa. Some groups reported they are fully unable to work, turning both patients and staff away. Others reported the stoppage would inhibit critically important services, including:
- Gender-based violence resources
- Outreach for high-risk populations, including the LGBT community and adolescent women and young girls
- Provision of antiretroviral treatment and viral load testing
- Accessibility of HIV testing and preventive measures, like PrEP
- Ability to administer the BCG vaccine to prevent tuberculosis
- Support groups for adolescent and young people living with HIV
- Maternal health care services
- Mental health support
Survey respondents also said the toll of the pause is “massive,” “enormous,” “too large to quantify,” and, most concerningly, “fatal.” They predicted that a significant disruption would result in major loss of life, reversal of global health progress, the emergence of drug-resistant strains of deadly diseases, and significant monetary and job losses.
“We will see a continued widening of heath inequities, and a regression in ways we understand diseases,” Dr. Bosire says. “We will see an increase in people not just being infected with HIV but people with late-stage AIDS – a picture we have not seen in decades.”
Impacts on women and communities
Beyond the immediate health risks, the cuts to these programs jeopardize women’s empowerment and progress towards gender equality, and thus, global development overall. Programs funded through international aid, like those through USAID and PEPFAR, provide more than medicine – they offer economic opportunities and support small businesses led by women, enabling women to become financially independent, escape dangerous situations, and more.
“When we have a woman with HIV, children, we ask, ‘how do we improve her life?’ Economic independence,” Dr. Bosire says.
Organizations like Dr. Bosire’s, that are funded through international aid programs, help women in vulnerable situations achieve economic independence. And that independence means fewer missed opportunities. It means more women and girls in school, pursuing careers in healthcare, driving change in their communities, and more.
Without these critical investments, these initiatives and resources won’t be available, setting back hard-fought progress on global health, development, and gender equality.
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