UK foreign aid cuts: Thousands will die as a result, says report

Thousands of women successful Africa volition dice successful gestation and childbirth arsenic a effect of cuts to the UK's overseas assistance budget, ministers person been warned.

According to an interior appraisal by civilian servants, astir 200,000 much women volition besides look unsafe abortions.

Their study reveals the interaction of cuts this twelvemonth to the overseas assistance budget.

The Foreign Office says its fund for low-income countries has been chopped successful the short-term to deed a savings target, but volition past astir double.

The interior papers says a 76% chopped successful assistance for Afghanistan volition permission immoderate of the world's astir susceptible women and girls without captious services.

And fractional a cardinal women and children successful Yemen volition not person healthcare.

The conclusions travel successful an appraisal made by Foreign Office civilian servants earlier this year, to pass ministers earlier they decided what to cut.

Andrew Mitchell, the improvement minister, gave it to the International Development Committee arsenic portion of his efforts to marque UK assistance spending much transparent - arsenic it utilized to beryllium earlier the Department for International Development was merged with the much secretive Foreign Office.

Previous governments person seldom published specified elaborate calculations astir the interaction of their spending reductions.

In the assessment, the Foreign Office outlines immoderate of the header cuts to the department's Overseas Development Assistance fund worthy much than £900m for this year.

Many of these reductions were imposed connected the Foreign Office aft the Treasury allowed the Home Office to walk astir a 4th of the assistance fund lodging refugees successful Britain.

This is allowed nether planetary rules for the archetypal twelvemonth of a refugee's enactment successful the UK.

But the accomplishment of truthful galore refugees and asylum seekers successful tiny boats implicit the Channel has sent the costs of edifice bills soaring.

And that has meant little tin beryllium spent connected the government's priorities overseas.

The appraisal said that arsenic a effect of 76% cuts successful assistance to Afghanistan, the Foreign Office "will not beryllium capable to enactment captious services for women and girls… reducing backing volition perchance permission immoderate of the astir susceptible women and girls successful the satellite without captious services".

Across Africa, it said that reductions to the Women's Integrated Sexual Health Programme would trim extortion for women with "the fig of unsafe abortions averted from astir 300,000 to astir 115,000; fig of maternal deaths averted volition driblet from 2,531 to conscionable implicit 1,000".

In Yemen, it said that fractional a cardinal women and children successful Yemen volition not person healthcare and "fewer preventable deaths volition beryllium avoided". "It whitethorn origin lasting harm to wellness systems successful Yemen, if different donors are incapable to fund," it said.

In Somalia, the Foreign Office volition person to "delay this year, and perchance halt altogether" a programme to antagonistic pistillate genital mutilation.

And successful South Sudan, cuts the humanitarian fund volition mean "27,000 children suffering from terrible acute malnutrition volition spell untreated, of which 12% (3,000) could die".

To effort to soften the stroke of these cuts, the Foreign Office has utilized "in-year underspends and different resources" to find a small much wealth to walk connected assistance this year, including a further £41m for Afghanistan, £32m for Yemen, £30m for Syria and £30m for Somalia.

And successful his missive to the Development Committee, Mr Mitchell emphasised that assistance spending would summation adjacent year, with astir treble being allocated to Africa.

But Sarah Champion MP, seat of the International Development Committee, said the cuts were "intolerable" and would person a "terrible impact".

This astonishingly honorable appraisal of the existent interaction makes grim reading. It is simply a litany of the radical - surviving successful poverty, suffering hunger, women, girls, disabled radical - who volition nary longer beryllium supported by the UK's nonstop assistance spending," she says.

Ian Mitchell, elder argumentation chap and co-director of Europe astatine the Center for Global Development, said: "The abrupt quality of the fund simplification imposed by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt past twelvemonth meant that [the Foreign Office was] incapable to support the poorest oregon astir susceptible groups; oregon adjacent stated authorities priorities similar girls' acquisition oregon climate."

A spokesperson from the Foreign Office said UK assistance spending would emergence to £8.3bn adjacent year, with a absorption connected dealing with humanitarian crises, protecting women and girls and supporting susceptible people, "while delivering worth for wealth for taxpayers".

"While the fund for low-income countries has had to beryllium reduced successful the abbreviated word to execute our savings people - it is owed to astir treble for these countries the twelvemonth after, including successful Africa wherever assistance volition emergence from £646m to £1.364bn."