ISLAMABAD: Effects of the suspension of all US foreign aid programmes have started to appear in Pakistan as over 60 health facilities will be closed down, leaving 1.7 million people, including 1.2m Afghan refugees, cut off from life-saving reproductive health services.

These health facilities in Pakistan were being administered by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The UNFPA’s Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Pio Smith, expressed his deep concern saying that millions of women and girls now face life-threatening risks due to the lack of access to UNFPA’s crucial services across Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

In response to the US administration’s decision to pause nearly all US foreign aid programmes pending a 90-day review, UNFPA has suspended services funded by US grants that provide a lifeline for women and girls in crises, including in South Asia, Pio Smith said.

“This is not about statistics. This is about real lives. These are literally the world’s most vulnerable people,”

Millions of women and girls face life-threatening risks across Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan

Mr Smith said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

The regional director estimated that UNFPA requires over $308 million in 2025 to sustain essential services in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

It has been announced in Washington that as of Feb 7, all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programmes.

Essential personnel expected to continue working will be informed by the agency’s leadership by Feb 6.

‘Bottom-up’ review

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday the country would keep funding international aid projects after a “bottom-up” review, as most staff at the country’s massive humanitarian agency are set to be placed on leave.

Rubio, on a visit to Guatemala, insisted that President Donald Trump’s administration only reluctantly issued sweeping orders that include bringing back almost all overseas staff of the USAID.

“We are now going to have to work from the bottom up, instead of the top-down, to identify which programmes should be specially designated and therefore exempted,” Rubio told reporters, according to AFP. Rubio repeated his claim that USAID had been unresponsive to requests by the Trump administration to review its funding.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2025