Source: European Parliament
The exchange of views will be on the ‘Impacts of cuts in development aid on sexual and reproductive health programmes, as well as on other health programmes for vulnerable groups, including children and persons with disabilities’, from 14:30 to 15:30. This discussion will take place against the backdrop of a global trend of declining official development assistance (ODA), further aggravated by the recent US decision to terminate 83% of USAID programmes, creating a funding gap of USD 60 billion.
The health sector has been severely affected, putting the lives and rights of millions of people at serious risk. These cuts disproportionately impact those already on the margins in developing countries, particularly women and girls, children, and persons with disabilities.
Birgit Van Hout, Director of the UNFPA Office to the EU; Bertrand Bainvel, UNICEF Representative to EU Institutions; and Alessandra Aresu, Director of the Health and Protection Division at Humanity & Inclusion – Handicap International Federation, representing the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC), will participate in this exchange of views. It will provide an opportunity to take stock of the current situation, assess the impacts of the aid cuts on beneficiaries and major actors in their respective fields of competence, and discuss how the EU can help to address this situation.