Inside Geneva: women, girls and cuts to humanitarian aid

AP Photo/Patricia Simon

On Inside Geneva this week, aid agencies count the costs of funding cuts.

Inside Geneva

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“I am most sad for all the millions of people living with HIV and affected by HIV whose lives have been upended. They have lost access to life-saving medication. They have showed up at clinics for support, only to find no one there to help them,” says Angeli Achrekar, Deputy Executive Director for the Programme Branch at the Joint United Nations (UN) Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). 

The cuts are hitting women and girls especially hard.

“Right now, a woman dies from a preventable form of maternal mortality every two minutes. That’s unacceptable. One of the grants that the United States has just cut supports the training and salaries of midwives,” says Sarah Craven, Director of the Washington Office of UNFPA, the UN Population Fund.

+ US withdrawal from WHO puts global health in jeopardy

What will happen to local NGOs in crisis zones that relied on UN support?

“I have to have hope. I am the leader of the Sudanese Red Crescent Society. I have staff and 12,000 volunteers behind me. So, I always have to be really strong and give hope to everyone to continue serving Sudan,” says Aida Al-Sayed Abdullah, Secretary General of the Sudanese Red Crescent Society.

But could the cuts bring much-needed reform?

“Sure, the humanitarian system isn’t perfect. It can be inefficient and a little bit colonialistic at times. But it was delivering results. We were seeing actual progress. Now, in just a few months, decades of progress will be erased,” says Dorian Burkhalter, SWI swissinfo.ch journalist.

Or will the cuts cost lives and cause more crisis?

“We’re so close to ending AIDS, full stop. Now, we could very well be turning back completely. All those years of work, dedication and progress,” says Achrekar.

Find out more about the ‘Inside Geneva’ podcast and our other Swiss podcasts in English here.

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