At the end of July several humanitarian and family-planning NGOs denounced a U.S. plan to destroy a major shipment of contraceptives stored in Belgium. USAID had been storing pills, intrauterine devices, and hormonal implants awaiting distribution to humanitarian missions, mostly in Africa. The U.S. decision to dismantle USAID placed the shipment in limbo and prompted warnings that the agency's closure could contribute to millions of preventable deaths by 2030. Washington ordered the nearly $10 million stockpile to be incinerated in France. Civil-society outcry appears to have stalled destruction, and NGO sources say the supplies remain in Geel. Belgian authorities report diplomatic efforts and explore temporary relocation to prevent destruction.
The first alarm was raised at the end of July: several humanitarian and family planning NGOs denounced the Trump administration's intention to imminently destroy a major shipment of contraceptives. USAID, the U.S. aid agency, was storing them in Belgium, awaiting distribution to humanitarian missions, mostly in Africa. The operation, along with the contraceptives, was left in limbo when the U.S. government decided to dismantle its well-regarded development agency a move that, according to the scientific journal The Lancet, could lead to as many as 14 million preventable deaths by 2030.
Washington's order was that the pills, intrauterine devices, and hormonal implants stored in Belgium valued at nearly $10 million be incinerated in neighboring France. The outcry from civil society in both Europe and the United States seems, for now, to have stalled a measure that international organizations warn endangers the health of up to 1.4 million women and girls.
At least that is what NGOs suspect, since the U.S. State Department, which took over after USAID's closure, refuses to explicitly confirm its status. We understand that the stocks are still in Belgium; we don't have definitive confirmation, but the indirect information we've received is that they're still here, said Federico Dessi, director of Doctors of the World Belgium.
The Belgian government insists it is not standing idly by. As soon as we learned of the possible destruction of the contraceptives stored in a warehouse in Geel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched diplomatic efforts with the U.S. Embassy in Brussels, a spokeswoman told this newspaper by email. All possible avenues are being explored to prevent destruction, including temporary relocation, she said, though she declined to give details of the negotiations so as not to prejudice the outcome.
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