It was 11am in Nairobi when I learned how the UK planned to implement aid cuts. As a Pan-African feminist leader supporting women’s rights and feminist movements across Africa, I was devastated. The numbers are stark – £575 million in cuts for 2025 and 2026, a 40 per cent reduction overall, with health and education spending decimated. These cuts will hit hardest in African countries where there are already significant rollbacks in girls’ and women’s rights.
In Kenya, women make important contributions in public and private, as leaders, captains of industry, and as they manage homes, raise families and support entire communities. They are society’s backbone, and the UK’s decision threatens key sectors that are crucial for them.
When Western leaders make decisions far removed from local realities, they miss one fundamental truth: that women are holding our communities together, often unrecognised and unsupported. Now, critical systems that support them are being dismantled.
Feminist organisations and movements are the front line of women’s rights in Africa, offering services from healthcare for survivors of gender-based violence, to vocational training and educational resources for girls. Yet they receive less than 1 per cent of global development aid.
The effective shutdown of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has already left women vulnerable, particularly those needing safe births, emergency care and protection from violence. A survey by UN Women, released in May, revealed 90 per cent of these organisations are financially impacted by these funding reductions, with half expected to shut down in six months. The UK’s cuts will deepen the crisis, undoing years of progress.
Learning from USAID’s shutdown, we know the devastating real-world consequences. With closures in livelihood programmes, some women have turned to transactional sex to survive. Desperate for support, they have no other option. This is a daily reality for women who were already struggling, and it’s a devastating blow to their dignity and safety.
In rural Kenya, women living with HIV/AIDS already fear they will lose access to life-saving medication. And the loss of sexual and reproductive health services will have a cascading effect: millions of women will be denied access to basic care, and the long-term economic benefits of these services, which return $120 (£89) for every $1 invested, will be lost. Rural women already face long distances to healthcare centres, and now they’ll have even fewer options for support.
In Uganda, funding cuts will hit LGBT+ communities hard. One partner organisation explained essential services like mental health support, legal aid, and emergency care have already been shut down. The closure of drop-in centres, once a lifeline for marginalised communities, have left women feeling exposed. As they explained: “These were spaces which were safe and affirming for our communities and when such spaces do not exist anymore, the community is suffering.”
The impact on services for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) has also been devastating. A partner organisation in Kenya, was forced to suspend critical medical care, disability-inclusive health interventions, and vocational training. Survivors, particularly those with disabilities, have been left without the essential services they need to heal and rebuild their lives. This isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s a matter of life and death for many women.
And then there’s maternal health. African women face some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, and these cuts will deepen the crisis. Without skilled midwives and emergency obstetric care, women will be forced to give birth alone, with no access to life-saving interventions. This will result in preventable deaths, deaths that could have been avoided if these vital services had remained intact.
These aren’t statistics, they are real women whose lives are being impacted by decisions made far from their communities.
The UK’s cuts to foreign aid are deeply contradictory. Whilst the government claims to support gender equality, promising to address the root causes of violence against women with the Beijing Declaration and the Maputo Protocol, the reality tells a different story. How can the UK claim to lead in women’s rights while actively undermining support for the women who need it most?
Women in Africa are primary drivers of economic recovery and peacebuilding, making the cuts counterproductive as well as politically damaging. They will destabilise regions and set back progress, which will be felt for years to come.
It’s not too late to stand with women and restore these vital services. I’m calling on the UK government to review its plans and recognise their devastating impact. The decision to cut aid for women’s health in Africa marks a rollback for access to women’s rights on the continent, and globally.
An African proverb reminds us: “If we want to go fast, we go alone. If we want to go far, we go together.” It’s time for the UK to walk with us, together, in solidarity, for a future where women’s rights are not negotiable.
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