Cuts to UK’s foreign aid will lead to thousands of deaths, assessment warns

Thousands of women will die in pregnancy and childbirth and hundreds of thousands more will face unsafe abortions because of cuts to the UK’s foreign aid budget, ministers have been warned.

An assessment1 sent by civil servants to foreign office ministers outlined the impact of cuts to the UK’s overseas aid budget for 2023-24, which were announced last month by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

In Afghanistan, which has seen the biggest cut this year of 76%, the funding reductions “will potentially leave some of the most vulnerable women and girls in the world without critical services,” it warned.

In Africa, reductions in spending on the women’s integrated sexual health programme …