UNFPA to continue operations in Malawi
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will continue supporting its programmes in Malawi despite US president, Donald Trump, withdrawing funding to the organisation.
The Trump administration last week announced funding withdrawal on the that UNFPA supports “coercive abortion” in China according to a letter sent to the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.
Speaking during a press briefing in Lilongwe, UNFPA Malawi Country representative, Dan Odallo, said his organization is looking forward to continue working with the United States government on other pertinent issues to address global concerns and restore UNFPA strong partnership in order to save lives of women and girls in Malawi and other countries.
While sounding optimistic that some other donors will come in to help the organisation, Odallo expressed concern on the withdrawal saying it could also affect some of the programmes globally.
He retaliated that UNFPA does not fund or perform abortions or forced sterilisations, as the US government is claiming.
“The support we have received since 1969 from the United States government and people from United States has provided family planning and saved tens of thousands of mothers from preventable deaths and disabilities globally as well as in Malawi,” Odallo said.
According to Odallo, in 2016 UNFPA with about $69 million provision from the US government was able to “save the lives of 2,340 women from dying during pregnancy and childbirth, prevent 947,000 unintended pregnancies, prevent 295,000 unsafe abortions, and help 3 million couples prevent unwanted pregnancy.”
While in Malawi UNFPA has helped the return of 2,695 teen mothers that were either in marriages return to school, combating gender based violence, reduction of maternal deaths among many other interventions.
