Sarworlor, Liberia (AP)-Five months ago, Roseline Phay, a 32-year-old farmer from the West African Nation Liberia, left in search of contraceptives.
Phay and her partner have two daughters, and they hardly make any round. Determined to no longer have more children, she went to a health worker in her village, but contraceptive pills, implants and condoms were gone. Phay went on red clay roads to the nearest clinic for hours, but they also had no contraceptives.
She didn't know, but her mission was doomed from the start. Only a few weeks earlier, US President Donald Trump abruptly suspended the most foreign aid through the American Agency for International Development, which paid for medicines in the public clinics of Liberia.
Porter and pronounced, Phay repeated the trip four times. Then she became pregnant.
“I suffer,” she said, with daughter Pauline crying in her arms. “I have this little child on my back and the other child suffers in my stomach.” She must continue to farm during her pregnancy, she said, or “I won't eat.”
After she became pregnant, she had to abandon Pauline from breastfeeding, she said, and the girl was so very malnourished that she almost died. The American cuts did not leave any therapeutic food to give her, and she is still sick.
Phay is one of the millions in all of Africa who have seen their lives after cutting the American aid. In Liberia, American support made nearly 2.6% of gross national income, the highest percentage all over the world, according to the Center for Global Development.
“The impact of USAID in Liberia cannot be overestimated,” says Richlue O. Burphy, who worked for USAID projects for more than ten years and manages the National Lottery, a government agency. “Everywhere you go, you see the USAID (signs). And almost all government institutions … had a kind of USAID partnership.”
A feeling of betrayal
The feeling of betrayal runs deep in Liberia, founded in the early 1800s with the aim of moving liberated slaves and freely born black people from the United States. The political system is modeled on that of the US, together with its flag. Liberians often call the US their 'big brother'.
Liberia was one of the first countries to receive USAID support, starting in 1961. The officials thought they would be saved from Trump's cuts because of the close relationship of the countries.
After civil wars and an Ebola epidemic, the survival of Liberia is largely dependent on foreign aid, mainly of the US and the World Bank. Despite abundant natural wealth, six of the 10 Liberians live in poverty, according to the World Bank, and Liberia is one of the 10 poorest nations in the world.
The assistance is 'a serious challenge', especially for the health care system, told deputy Minister of Finance Dehpue Y. Zuo, responsible for drawing up the development budget, to The Associated Press. To ensure that the system floats, he said: “We have to take a dramatic switch to see where we will cut financing for other areas.”
According to the Finance Ministry, Liberia received an average of $ 527.6 million in aid per year between 2014 and 2023. This year, Liberia was supposed to receive $ 443 million, but the total estimated impact of the cuts is $ 290 million – essentially what had not yet been paid.
USAID financing built schools and health clinics, gave training for teachers and doctors and gave trade fairs for study in the US, the supported small-scale farmers and paid for school meals.
But most American financing went to Liberia's health system, which looks 48% of his budget. It financed malaria control, health programs for mothers, HIV/AIDS treatment and health programs for the community. It financed hundreds of health projects run by auxiliary groups.
Now in Bong County, where Phay lives, drug shelves in health clinics are almost empty. The ambulance funded by USAID cannot function because there is no money for fuel. Hospitals get out of hand disinfectant and gloves. Training for medical staff has stopped and health workers in the community have not been paid in months.
An opening for China
Mozes K. Banyan, head of nearby CB Dunbar Hospital, described the American cutbacks as 'outside of a shock'. He was worried about the future, especially now that Bong County has started seeing a handful of MPOX cases that spread from the neighboring Sierra Leone.
Warning for the cutbacks could have helped find options, he said. “But it's like sleeping, you woke up and you were told,” Hey, leave this house. “
The withdrawal of American support is an opportunity for others, especially China, said experts and officials. Chinese companies have operated the gold mines of Liberia, built roads and employees in the field of training aid. Chinese beer is sold alongside local brands. Many liberians who would have sent children to universities in the US now opt for China.
Last month, China opened a cardiological wing in the main hospital of the capital, which is named after John F. Kennedy, but was often referred to as “only to kill” because of the scarce agents, even before the American cuts.
“There are gaps to be fulfilled, and which cannot be covered under the Liberia government,” said Zuo, the deputy Minister of Finance. “We are open door to the rest of the world, including the United States.”
In the village of Sarworlor of Phay, the health worker Alice Togbah is still wearing its USAID vest in the community, although she has not been paid for months. She no longer has malaria medication for children. She does not touch cough medicine and diarrhea treatment.
A 4-year-old resident, promise, received malaria a few days ago. Her mother, Grace Morris, only obtained a limited number of malaria tablets in the nearest clinic because of the American cutbacks. Now they are ready and the child still feels sick.
“Children die here from malaria,” she said. Last year her neighbor's son died because he did not receive medication on time.
Morris and other women are also looking for contraceptives. In recent years, Liberia has made progress in reducing teenage pregnancies and mother mortality rates.
For women in traditional, conservative communities, access to contraceptives meant reclaiming some control over their lives.
“If … my husband touches me, I can't say no because I have to satisfy him,” said Phay. “But if I don't have a medicine, I get pregnant.”
Her 9-year-old daughter, also called promise, lives in the capital, Monrovia, with her aunt. Phay wants her to finish the school and have a different life than her.
“I beg you, if you have the medicine, you have to help us,” she said. “I don't want her to suffer like me.”
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