Global and Mail: U.N. says Canadian funding for reproductive health agency critical after U.S. cuts
“The head of the U.N. reproductive health and rights agency says Canada’s financial support has been critical to the agency’s work after President Donald Trump cut U.S. funding this year. Natalia Kanem, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, says the withdrawal of almost $70-million (U.S.) in American funding will put millions of women’s lives at risk in the years to come. Dr. Kanem, who was in Ottawa on Wednesday to launch the agency’s annual population report, said the Canadian government’s renewal of $15.6-million (Canadian) in funding is ‘lifesaving’ for vulnerable women and girls in some of the poorest regions of the world. ‘The loss of the U.S. funding has affected – and it’s not an exaggeration to say – hundreds of thousands of women around the world. And cumulatively, over the course of years, it will be in the millions,’ Dr. Kanem said. … In 2016, prior to the U.S. funding withdrawal, Canada was the fourth-largest donor to the UNFPA … behind Britain, Sweden, and the United States…” (Zilio, 12/6).