Kakaire A. Kirunda
3 October 2008
The United States Agency for International Development has issued a new directive requiring several African countries, to stop the provision of the United States-funded contraceptives to Marie Stopes International (MSI), one of the world's leading family planning NGOs.
The Usaid deputy mission director in Kampala, Ms Deborah Grieser, confirmed the development yesterday saying her country's Annual Appropriations Act bans funding organisations that participate in coercive abortions and involuntary sterilisation.
"Usaid found that such a programme continues unabated in China and MSI is the major implementing partner of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which supports the Chinese government's population control programme," she said. "We have been asked to inform our host governments that we do not want our contraceptive commodities to be provided to Marie Stopes."
The Bush Administration has used the Kemp-Kasten Amendment since 2002 to deny funding to UNFPA because of its work in China. The ban has, however, been condemned by reproductive health activists worldwide.
Ms Grieser, however, explained that all efforts were being made with Uganda to ensure that there is minimal disruption in the supply of contraceptives to women in Uganda. When reached for comment, the Director General of Health Services, Dr Sam Zaramba, expressed ignorance of the new developments.
"We have not received any communication from Usaid regarding that matter. Marie Stopes is one of our very strong partners in reproductive health especially in the area of family planning. We have not registered any thing wrong they are doing," said Dr Zaramba.
According to the 2006 Uganda Demographic Health Survey, only 24 per cent of currently married women in the 15-49 age group are using a method of contraception.
But in a swift response on Wednesday, MSI said from their London offices that the decision would seriously disrupt its family planning programmes in at least six African countries including Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
In the statement, MSI chief executive Dana Hovig said, "This senseless decision is likely to have only one clear consequence: the death of African women and girls. And the Bush Administration should answer for that."
In Uganda, an estimated 300,000 women die annually due to unsafe abortions due to unplanned pregnancies, according to a recent study by the US based Guttmacher Institute. The MSI Uganda country director, Mr Thomas Mega, the only person who could speak on behalf of the NGO, is said to be up country and could not be reached on phone.
However, information on the NGO's website indicates that in Uganda, Marie Stopes runs a network of 16 clinics across the country.
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