Healthcare givers free to access global funding with GAG rule repeal —PAI

Following the withdrawal of the Global Gap rule by President Joe Biden, groups and stakeholders into reproductive and sexual reproductive health have been urged to come forward to access global funding for supporting provision of comprehensive health services for women in Nigeria.

Director, Policy and Advocacy at Population Action International (PAI,) Mr Jonathan Rucks, speaking at the virtual training for media practitioners on “Global Gag Rule Rescindment: Implications and Next Steps” by IPAS in collaboration with PAI stated that the four years of US President Donald Trump’s administration global gag rule had globally led to increase in the cases of unsafe abortion and poor health of women.

Mr Rucks said the Global Gag Rule (GGR) policy that was meant to ensure that US funding is not used to aid more abortions, ended up restricting women’s access to health services while undermining the ability of many countries’ health systems to be responsive in times of emergency.

According to him, aside from the many misconceptions around what the policy does and what it is designed to do, it made the US overreaching and enforcing its beliefs on the provision of sexual and reproductive health services and rights of women in countries assessing global health funds.

Rucks said the policy was inimical to Nigeria and other African nations’ attainment of sustainable development goals (SDGs), and so must remain rescinded, irrespective of the ruling political party in the US, the largest country in the world that funds women sexual and reproductive health issues.

He stated: “Providers had to make a very difficult decision which limit the services they provide so that they can continue to receive the US global health. When you have a policy like the global gap rule, you lose providers from the health system and when providers are gone from the health system, you are reducing access to reproductive health services like contraceptives.

“A woman who does not have access to service like contraceptives, for example, is more likely to experience unintended pregnancies and eventually in some of those cases, the woman may decide that she does not want that intended pregnancy and may seek out an unsafe abortion and may die as a result.”

Florence Machio, Regional Technical Advisor, Communication and Media for PAI, declared that the situation affords journalists the opportunity to interrogate Africa’s healthcare systems and its funding in a bid to ensure that African governments put in place measures to ensure that the reproductive health rights of women are realised.

President, Network of Reproductive Health Journalists of Nigeria, Mrs Yinka Sokunbi, said the increasing spate of kidnapping, rape and insecurity in Nigeria has made the GGR rescinded more important and to ensure more attention could be paid to sexual and reproductive health and rights of Nigerian women in the country.

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