Siraha said more than half of all funding for sexual and reproductive health services in Zimbabwe came from USAID, so the cuts would inevitably boost unplanned pregnancies.
"\[This leads\] to unsafe abortions and maternal mortality. Teenage pregnancies lead to school dropouts and worsen the higher percentage of teenagers dying during delivery,” she said.
In January Trump also recommitted to two international anti-abortion pacts, cutting all US family planning funds for foreign organisations that provide or promote abortions.
### JOBS LOST
The fallout from the aid cuts is already rippling through Zimbabwe: thousands of health workers were told via WhatsApp to vacate work premises in late January after Trump's executive orders kicked in, according to some of those affected.
A 29-year-old single mother of two, who did not want to give her name for fear of reprisals, said on the eve of January 28, she was told not to report for work the next day at a USAID-funded NPO providing sexual health services to young girls in Gokwe, in Midlands Province.
“I signed for unpaid leave. The last salary and savings is the one I am using for all expenses and upkeep of my family,” she said. “I am trying to find ways to get income. I am buying and selling clothes and food, but it is not yielding much.”
Ekenia Chifamba, director of Shamwari Yemwanasikana, a community-based organisation that promotes girls' rights, said the cuts were “unbearable” as they affected whole families.
“It is devastating and disturbing,” she said.
Zigomo said UNFPA was seeking alternate funding, be it engaging national governments, asking more of other donors or tapping the private sector and philanthropic organisations. It is also trying to mobilise civil society and grassroots organisations to push for local solutions and funding.
“Despite these efforts, it appears unlikely that most \[east and southern African\] countries will mobilise resources to fill in the gaps in the short-term,” she said. “There remains an urgent need for sustainable and predictable funding to prevent a devastating rollback in progress on women's health and rights.”
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