Latest news with #familyplanning
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Health
- Japan Times
U.S.-funded contraceptives for poor nations to be burned in France: sources
U.S.-funded contraceptives worth nearly $10 million are being sent to France from Belgium to be incinerated after Washington rejected offers from the United Nations and family planning organizations to buy or ship the supplies to poor nations, according to two sources. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department confirmed on Wednesday that a decision had been taken to destroy the stock. The supplies have been stuck for months in a warehouse in Geel, a city in the Belgian province of Antwerp, following U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to freeze U.S. foreign aid in January. They comprise contraceptive implants and pills as well as intrauterine devices to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, according to seven sources and a screenshot shared by an eighth source confirming the planned destruction. The U.S. government will spend $167,000 to incinerate the stocks at a facility in France that handles medical waste, the U.S. State Department confirmed. The spokesperson said that a preliminary decision had been made to destroy certain products from terminated U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contracts. "Only a limited number of commodities have been approved for disposal," the spokesperson said via email, adding that no condoms or HIV medications would be destroyed. U.S. lawmakers have introduced two bills this month to prevent the destruction of the supplies following Trump's decision to shut down USAID, but aid groups say the bills are unlikely to be passed in time to stop the incineration. The Belgian foreign ministry said Brussels had held talks with U.S. authorities and "explored all possible options to prevent the destruction, including temporary relocation." "Despite these efforts, and with full respect for our partners, no viable alternative could be secured. Nevertheless, Belgium continues to actively seek solutions to avoid this regrettable outcome," it said in a statement on Tuesday. "Sexual and reproductive health must not be subject to ideological constraints," it added. The supplies, worth $9.7 million, are due to expire between April 2027 and September 2031, according to an internal document listing the warehouse stocks and verified by three sources. Sarah Shaw, Associate Director of Advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices, said the nongovernmental organization had volunteered to pay for the supplies to be repackaged without USAID branding and shipped to countries in need, but the offer was declined by the U.S. government. "MSI offered to pay for repackaging, shipping and import duties but they were not open to that. ... We were told that the U.S. government would only sell the supplies at the full market value," said Shaw. She did not elaborate on how much the NGO was prepared to pay, but said she felt the rejection was based on the Trump's administration's more restrictive stance on abortion and family planning. "This is clearly not about saving money. It feels more like an ideological assault on reproductive rights, and one that is already harming women." She added that many countries in sub-Saharan Africa had relied on USAID for access to contraception and that the aid cuts would lead to a rise in unsafe abortions. The United Nations' sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, also offered to buy the contraceptives outright, three sources said, without disclosing the financial terms of the proposal. However, negotiations broke down, a source with knowledge of the talks said, in part due to a lack of response from the U.S. government. UNFPA declined to comment. One of the sources with knowledge of the issue said that the Trump administration was acting in accordance with the Mexico City Policy, an anti-abortion pact in which Trump reinstated U.S. participation in January. The pact forbids the U.S. government from contributing to or working with organizations providing funding or supplies that offer access to abortions. The source said there was no way for the U.S. government to ensure that UNFPA would not share the contraceptives with groups offering abortions, violating the Mexico City Policy. The State Department also said these were factors in their decision on Wednesday, and added that it had avoided $34.1 million in costs by cancelling other orders placed under the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden. The source also said the matter was complicated by the fact that the contraceptives in Belgium were embossed with the USAID trademark and Washington did not want any USAID-branded supplies to be rerouted elsewhere. UNFPA did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the concerns raised by the source. One of the two sources who revealed that the stocks of contraceptives were being trucked to France said it would likely take dozens of truckloads and at least two weeks to move the supplies out of the Geel warehouse, with a third source also confirming the scale of the operation. The French government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Chemonics, the contractor managing the supply chain for USAID's family planning program, declined to comment on the plans to destroy the supplies.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Health
- Reuters
US-funded contraceptives for poor nations to be burned in France, sources say
July 23 (Reuters) - U.S.-funded contraceptives worth nearly $10 million are being sent to France from Belgium to be incinerated, after Washington rejected offers from the United Nations and family planning organisations to buy or ship the supplies to poor nations, two sources told Reuters. The supplies have been stuck for months in a warehouse in Geel, a city in the Belgian province of Antwerp, following President Donald Trump's decision to freeze U.S. foreign aid in January. They comprise contraceptive implants and pills as well as intrauterine devices to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, according to seven sources and a screengrab shared by an eighth source confirming the planned destruction. The U.S. government will spend $160,000 to incinerate the stocks at a facility in France that handles medical waste, according to four of the sources with knowledge of the matter, following Trump's decision to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The U.S. State Department did not respond to a request for comment on the negotiations to save the contraceptives from destruction or the plans to incinerate them. U.S. lawmakers have introduced two bills this month to prevent the destruction of the supplies but aid groups say the bills are unlikely to be passed in time to stop the incineration. The Belgian foreign ministry said Brussels had held talks with U.S. authorities and "explored all possible options to prevent the destruction, including temporary relocation." "Despite these efforts, and with full respect for our partners, no viable alternative could be secured. Nevertheless, Belgium continues to actively seek solutions to avoid this regrettable outcome," it said in a statement shared with Reuters on Tuesday. "Sexual and reproductive health must not be subject to ideological constraints," it added. The supplies, worth $9.7 million, are due to expire between April 2027 and September 2031, according to an internal document listing the warehouse stocks and verified by three sources. Sarah Shaw, Associate Director of Advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices, told Reuters the non-profit organisation had volunteered to pay for the supplies to be repackaged without USAID branding and shipped to countries in need, but the offer was declined by the U.S. government. "MSI offered to pay for repackaging, shipping and import duties but they were not open to that... We were told that the U.S. government would only sell the supplies at the full market value," said Shaw. She did not elaborate on how much the NGO was prepared to pay, but said she felt the rejection was based on the Trump's administration's more restrictive stance on abortion and family planning. "This is clearly not about saving money. It feels more like an ideological assault on reproductive rights, and one that is already harming women." She added that many countries in sub-Saharan Africa had relied on USAID for access to contraception and that the aid cuts would lead to a rise in unsafe abortions. The United Nations' sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, also offered to buy the contraceptives outright, three sources told Reuters, without disclosing the financial terms of the proposal. However, negotiations broke down, a source with knowledge of the talks said, in part due to a lack of response from the U.S. government. UNFPA declined to comment. One of the sources with knowledge of the issue said that the Trump administration was acting in accordance with the Mexico City policy, an anti-abortion pact in which Trump reinstated U.S. participation in January. The pact forbids the U.S. government from contributing to or working with organisations providing funding or supplies that offer access to abortions. The source said there was no way for the U.S. government to ensure that UNFPA would not share the contraceptives with groups offering abortions, violating the Mexico City policy. The source also said the matter was complicated by the fact that the contraceptives in Belgium were embossed with the USAID trademark and Washington did not want any USAID-branded supplies to be rerouted elsewhere. UNFPA did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the concerns raised by the source. MSI, which says on its website that it fights for a future where everyone can access contraception and abortion, accused the State Department earlier this month of being "hellbent on destroying life-saving medical supplies, incurring additional costs for the U.S. taxpayer in the process." The State Department declined to comment. Abortion is a divisive issue in U.S. politics and was a major issue in the 2024 election won by Trump. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to eliminate a nationwide right to abortion, leaving abortion laws to each of the 50 states. One of the two sources who told Reuters the stocks of contraceptives were being trucked to France said it would likely take dozens of truckloads and at least two weeks to move the supplies out of the Geel warehouse, with a third source also confirming the scale of the operation. The French government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Chemonics, the contractor managing the supply chain for USAID's family planning programme, declined to comment on the plans to destroy the supplies. An internal USAID memo, sent in April, said a large quantity of contraceptives was being kept in warehouses and they should be "immediately transferred to another entity to prevent waste or additional costs".
Free Malaysia Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Young delay starting families as rising costs bite
Deputy women, family and community development minister Noraini Ahmad said the government has implemented various initiatives to help young people build their families. (Bernama pic) PETALING JAYA : The pressure of the rising cost of living is mainly why many youths choose to delay marriage and start a family, says deputy women, family and community development minister Noraini Ahmad. She cited a report by the United Nations Population Fund, which said nearly one in five adults across 14 countries acknowledged they may not be able to have the number of children they desire. 'Of this group, 39% cited financial constraints as the main barrier, including the cost of living, childcare, housing and job insecurity. This is where our responsibility lies: to listen, understand, and act,' Bernama reported her as saying at the 2025 World Population Day celebration today. She said the government has implemented various initiatives to help young couples build families in a more stable and structured environment. These include providing maternity and paternity leave, childcare subsidies, financial assistance for low-income families, and awareness programmes on reproductive and family health. On Malaysia's declining fertility rate, currently at 1.7 children per woman, below the population replacement level of 2.1, Noraini said the government is implementing a fertility treatment aid and infertility advocacy programme, targeting 30,000 couples this year. 'In the first quarter of 2025, only 93,500 births were recorded, a drop of more than 11% compared with the previous year. 'These numbers represent a growing urgency for effective policies, support systems and public awareness,' she said.
CNA
6 days ago
- General
- CNA
More couples in Singapore are stopping at one child – what does this mean for families and society at large?
Whenever Ms Christel Goh's daughter was asked if she wanted a sibling, the six-year-old's answer would always be an unequivocal "no". Ms Goh, 34, who owns her own communications agency, said: "To her, it's like, 'If mama has one more child, how is she going to carry both of us?' She cannot wrap her head around that." Though it may sound juvenile, the child's answer is in line with the sentiments that Ms Goh and her husband have of not wanting to divide their resources and attention among a few children. "After our daughter was born, we were thinking, 'Okay, now we know what it's like to have a child', but we didn't see any compelling reason to have more," she added. Like Ms Goh, 36-year-old housewife Nikko Aw and her husband, a 36-year-old centre manager for a non-profit organisation, have one child, a girl, and they have no plans for now to add more. They did not initially plan to stop at one, but what held them back from having another child was their professional goals. They wanted to do their master's degrees separately and by the time they had completed their degrees about a year ago, they were already 35 and the higher risk of pregnancy complications concerned them. Around that time, they also had to move to South Africa because her husband was offered a work stint there. It so happens that Ms Aw is also the only child in her family, while her husband has one sibling. Her view is that people who come from small families have the tendency to keep their own families small too, just as those who grew up in a big family would prefer to have more children. Single-child families such as Ms Aw's and Ms Goh's are gradually on the rise in Singapore. In 2024, the percentage of ever-married female residents aged between 40 and 49 who had just one child was 25.1 per cent. This was up from 22.3 per cent in 2015, and 17.3 per cent in 2005. Ever-married females refer to women who have been married before and are currently married, widowed, divorced or separated. The 40-to-49 age band is a common reference point because women in this group are typically nearing the end of their childbearing age and are unlikely to have more children. Child development and sociology experts said that this growing trend is not unique to Singapore. Although like-for-like figures are not publicly available, many developed countries globally are also seeing family sizes shrinking: In the United States, the percentage of women who had only one child by the end of childbearing age nearly doubled from 10 per cent in 1980 to 19 per cent in 2010 and this has since plateaued In the European Union, among all households with children, 49.8 per cent were one-child households in 2024, a slight uptick from 47 per cent in 2018 In Japan, the proportion of couples who were considered to have completed childbearing but had only one child was 19.7 per cent in 2021, up from 15.9 per cent in 2010 In South Korea, 24.9 per cent of married women aged 40 to 49 in 2020 had only one child. This was compared to only 9.5 per cent for an older cohort of women aged 60 and above who had just one child Parents in Singapore who spoke to CNA TODAY had various reasons for not wanting more than one child, though these were underpinned by one common desire to put their best efforts and resources into one offspring, instead of dividing them among a few. Sociology and gerontology experts said that such trends are driven in part by practical factors such as cost of living and limited parenting time, given that most families are dual-income today. A shift in values further shapes this development. Previous generations were more likely to have viewed having more children as having a safety net for themselves in their old age. However, parents today do not feel that way, so they may be less motivated to bear more children. Whatever the causes may be, the experts generally agreed that this slow but sure trend, against the wider backdrop of a declining total fertility rate, is one that would be hard to reverse. Singapore must then brace for the impact that the rise of single-child families has on individuals, families and the society as a whole, they said. THE FEWER, THE MERRIER When she was in primary school, Ms Aw recalled asking her parents why she did not have siblings like some of her friends. Her parents said to her then that if they had more children, the family might have to make some lifestyle adjustments, such as going for fewer holidays overseas, and Ms Aw would have to share a room with a sibling. "I said 'no', so that's why my parents also said, 'Okay, if you say 'no', then we're all aligned with this, then we're just going to have you'." Indeed, cost was one common reason that parents who spoke to CNA TODAY cited for not having more children. However, the financial cost of raising a child is not the sole factor that plays into parents' calculations, the experts said. Associate Professor Helen Ko from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) said that there are cases of couples who doubt their ability to afford children after having to look after their ageing parents. Longer life expectancies and falling birth rates have already caused Singapore's old-age support ratio to be on a steady decline over the years. In 2024, the ratio was about 3.5 working-age adults for every older citizen aged 65 and above. In 2020, the ratio was 4.3, and in 2010 it was 7.4. For Ms Aw, finances were part of the consideration, but not the "limiting factor". "I think it's the childhood that I want to curate for my kid, or the sort of parent I want to be for my kid – these are limiting me to have just one kid. "I don't want to be so tapped out physically and drained out emotionally that I'm not present for her." The experts also said that other trends, such as couples marrying at a later age and delaying having their first child, also contribute to the growing number of single-child families, since the couples would have a shorter childbearing window. The median age for resident mothers who gave birth for the first time has been climbing: It was 31.9 last year, from 30.4 back in 2014 and 29.3 a decade before that. For some couples, health issues influenced their family planning decisions. Civil servant Rawdah Juma'at, now 40, did not plan to have a child, but a routine full-body health check and a referral to a specialist doctor in her 30s uncovered a health issue, which meant that she only had a small window of time left to conceive if she wanted to do so. The stark discovery threw her into an existential state of mind and this led her and her husband to revisit their decision to stay childless. "It was a difficult and emotional conversation, but after having that option be 'robbed' from us, we decided we should proceed with having (a child)," she said. She gave birth to a baby boy five years ago at the age of 35. The mental, physical and emotional toll that the journey to motherhood took on her led the couple to decide to stop at one. "My pregnancy was a high-risk one and the baby was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit after birth. I also suffered from bad post-partum depression. The thought of repeating this cycle was just ... ooof," she told CNA TODAY. Changes in societal values and perceptions towards children are another contributing factor to shrinking family sizes. Dr Tan Poh Lin, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), noted that in the past, couples were motivated to have more than one child so that their firstborn would have a playmate, so they could try to have a child of a different gender or simply to adhere to social norms of what makes a family "complete". These motivations "appear to have less sway" in family planning decisions today, Dr Tan said, whose areas of research include population, fertility and marriage. "In particular, as gender preference weakens, fewer families are willing to have another child just to have their ideal gender composition. As time goes on, this trend will be self-reinforcing as the social norms shift towards one-child families being just as 'complete' as families with two children," Dr Tan added. Adding to this point, Assoc Prof Ko of SUSS noted that in the past, the older generation tended to look at children as investments. "But these days, those in their 20s to 40s are not looking at it like that anymore, because they are generally more financially independent," she said. Indeed, Ms Goh said that she and her husband do not have the expectation that their daughter will be financially responsible for them in old age. "In this day and age, it is not realistic to have this perspective." Agreeing, Ms Rawdah said: "I'd be more than grateful if my kid takes care of me, but I'm uncertain if this would hold him back from achieving greatness (or goals) he has set for himself in the world." BEHAVIOURAL OUTCOMES OF GROWING UP WITHOUT SIBLINGS When encountering an only child, a common perception one may have is that the child must be pampered by the parents, especially in terms of material privileges, or always gets his or her way at home. Mr Yazid Ahmad, 36, an only child who is a senior consultant in a communications firm, agreed that his parents, although they were strict disciplinarians, did not hold back on spending on him whenever they had the means to do so when he was young. "For example, I came home from school one day to discover that my mum had bought a full set of encyclopaedia for me – and I did not even ask for it." However, as with other single children who spoke to CNA TODAY, Mr Yazid said that he generally has no problems with sharing his possessions, which his parents had taught him to do from young. The discomfort arose, though, when it came to sharing personal space, such as when he went for sleepovers and had to share the bed with his cousins, whereas at home, he was "spoiled" by having his own bedroom. "I loved that privacy but I just had to give and take, because I was aware I was at someone's house, so I needed to be respectful." As a parent of one now, Ms Goh the entrepreneur admitted that it is a delicate balance that she and her husband try to strike between providing the best for their daughter and avoiding pampering her. For instance, they will not always accede when their daughter asks to buy something, because "she needs to know she cannot have everything", Ms Goh said. She and her husband also try to impart a sense of independence and responsibility in their daughter by getting her to pack up her toys after she is done with playtime, even though they have a domestic worker at home. Indeed, experts debunked the concept of "little emperor syndrome", a popular term describing such children in China who were stereotyped as overindulged and socially inept. China had introduced a one-child policy that ended in 2015. Assistant Professor Cheung Hoi Shan from the National Institute of Education (NIE), whose research interests include parenting, psychology and child development, said that the phenomenon is not well-researched in Singapore, if at all. Furthermore, a society where having only one child is state-mandated versus one where the decision is made by the parents is not "very comparable" to each other. "The way we (parents) see children also becomes very different," she added. Associate Professor Atiqah Azhari from SUSS' psychology programme said that the "little emperor" description itself has "limited empirical support" to begin with. 'Research shows that only-children in Asian societies, including China, are not more selfish. They sometimes demonstrate higher pro-social behaviour, especially when raised in warm, structured environments,' she said. Another common perception of an only child is that they have trouble socialising and interacting with others due to the absence of a sibling at home. There is some truth to this – Dr Tan from IPS said research shows certain benefits of having siblings. "Older siblings can sometimes gain leadership and teaching skills through their interactions with those who are younger, while younger siblings have the benefit of having more role models," she added. "At older ages, siblings can offer each other intra-generational support, which can help to stave off loneliness, particularly in an age of rising singlehood." On their part, parents who decided to stop at one told CNA TODAY that they make a conscious effort to avoid all the potential drawbacks their child may experience growing up without siblings. For instance, Ms Aw takes her daughter out for frequent playdates with other families in the neighbourhood. 'And we address their older children as jie jie or gor gor (older brother or sister in Chinese), so we use the same sibling terms that we would have used with our own family,' she said. "While we might not be related by blood, we are definitely bonded as an extended family. And I think that helps address the only-child syndrome." Growing up without siblings, a child receiving undivided attention and greater resources from one's parents may not always turn out to be socially inept. Assoc Prof Atiqah pointed to a study in 2022, which found that children without siblings outperformed their peers in linguistic performance and emotional management, "suggesting a clear developmental benefit when parents can focus their resources and time on one child". "In resource-rich urban environments like Singapore, this dynamic can be further amplified, given parents' heavy involvement in education and enrichment activities," she added. Longitudinal studies indicate that such children go on to attain "comparable or better educational outcomes and professional achievements" as they grow older, Assoc Prof Atiqah noted as well. Asst Prof Cheung from NIE said a recent study in Singapore found that most children really enjoyed uninterrupted one-on-one time with their parents. Such quality time, which could take the form of a car ride between classes, or having a solid bedtime routine, makes the children feel loved by their parents. However, she highlighted that even if the parents have just one child, such quality time may not be guaranteed because the parents might have busy schedules or be distracted by their electronic devices, though technically it would be easier to set aside one-on-one time with just one child as opposed to multiple children. HIGHER EXPECTATIONS FROM PARENTS Adults who grew up as the only child told CNA TODAY that their parents were sometimes stricter, overprotective or had higher expectations of them, precisely because they were the only child. Mr Koh Ying Xi, 20, an undergraduate, said his parents generally did not let him hang out with friends outside school when he was younger. "I would ask and they would just say, 'No, just come home'. So there was a strictness in terms of not being able to do things with my own time or interact with other children as much," he added. Professional stunt driver Jason Tan, 48, recalled having to take motorcycle lessons in secret without his mother's blessing, because she felt that riding a motorcycle was dangerous. "One day, she saw me downstairs with my motorcycle. She got very mad," he said. When he started his career as a stunt driver 12 years ago, he said that it took time and plenty of conversations to allay his mum's concerns over his physical safety. Even more than a decade later, he still walks on proverbial eggshells sometimes to avoid worrying her. "The most dangerous stunt that I did recently – it involved the car overturning multiple times … I did not tell my mum about it. I did it first and after it was done, I told her," he said. Many of these only-children told CNA TODAY that they also feel an added pressure not to disappoint their parents who have invested so much in them, even if their parents have never outrightly expressed such expectations. Ms Aw, though, said that her parents did express their expectations of her, which she then internalised. "There was always some form of expectation. When you were young, it was academic. When you were old enough, it was about work and employment. And when you were older, it was about family-oriented expectations," she said. Given that they had done so much for her, she grew up feeling the need to do well so her parents could be proud of her and be able "to brag to everybody else, like at weddings or parties or important events like Chinese New Year", she added. As a result of this, she believes only-children feel more intense guilt and become critical of themselves when they do not meet their parents' expectations. Asst Prof Cheung from NIE said that regardless of how many children there are in a family, parents and family members must manage their own expectations of their children and learn to step back. "So for families who cannot do that, then the child might still get anxiety and depression no matter how many children (the parents) have," she added. Similarly, many of the differences in children's developmental outcomes are influenced by their childhood environment and parenting practices, and not directly caused by the presence of siblings or otherwise. For instance, a child can still fail to learn the importance of sharing even if he or she has siblings at home, where the parents overindulge them and fail to instil empathy, Asst Prof Cheung said. "So it's very hard to just say, 'Oh, because I have only one child, or I have many children, therefore the child is set on a particular trajectory'. No, it depends a lot on the other contextual factors." INEVITABLE CAREGIVING PRESSURE While the growth and development of only-children is a pressing issue, what may be of bigger concern is what lies ahead for them in their adult years in terms of caregiving responsibilities, Asst Prof Cheung said. This certainly weighs heavily on the minds of those who spoke to CNA TODAY. Mr Tan the stuntman lives alone with his 73-year-old mother and 93-year-old wheelchair-bound grandmother. He counts his blessings that his mother is still mobile and active and that his grandmother does not have major ailments besides being unable to walk. Previously, though, he took care of his sick grandfather for about two years before the latter passed away, a task that he described as "very emotionally, physically taxing". Thinking about his mother growing older and frail in the future is enough to worry him. "I cannot take too long a trip. Even though I can, since she is relatively healthy, I will feel uneasy, in case anything happens," he added. In the case of Mr Yazid the senior consultant, he is thankful his job allows him to work from home most of the time, which allows him to be with his mother, 68, a divorcee who would live alone otherwise. However, there were professional opportunities that would have helped him advance in his career that he had to forgo. This was due to his caregiving responsibilities that he had taken on years before his parents separated. 'So, for example, there were relocation opportunities to regional cities like Bangkok, Jakarta … I had to decline or I couldn't even consider applying for those, because if I had taken them up, then who was going to take care of my parents?" Economist Walter Theseira said that in the bigger scheme of things, "it is quite impossible" for most adults who are only-children to take on caregiving roles for two elderly parents unless they have financial support. The support needed is not limited to just finance, but also in overall caregiving capacity such as time and physical ability. 'I think the reality is that many single children will need state or purchased support such as foreign helpers or nursing homes,' Associate Professor Theseira from SUSS said. Dr Kelvin Seah, an economist from the National University of Singapore, said a sustained trend of single-child families, similar to that of childlessness, will have long-term implications for Singapore's labour supply and economic growth. One potential policy tool is to provide financial support for families who aspire to have larger families but are financially challenged, he said, though he added that financial incentives have been shown to have a limited impact. Both economists proposed that there be more family-friendly employment practices, for example, to help parents better juggle their careers with caregiving responsibilities – whether for their children or parents. Dr Tan from IPS said: "The increased pressure on our informal caregiving infrastructure could force workers out of full-time work, or make Singapore workers less competitive relative to foreign competitors, if caregiving provisions at the workplace are not adequate." Giving a realistic take on the situation, Assoc Prof Ko of SUSS said that pro-natalist policies to increase birth rates, often through government incentives, do not seem to be very successful in many countries. "So reversing this trend (of shrinking family size) is going to be quite an uphill task." In light of this, society needs to adjust and embrace the eventual increase of the caregiving load on individual families, experts said. Assoc Prof Ko pointed to the reliance on fictive kin – kinship that goes beyond biological family. She noted that there are already many helpful Singaporeans who help to provide some form of caregiving to their elderly neighbours who live alone. In the future, as family units shrink further, there may be more of such cases of seniors relying on close friends and neighbours for their caregiving needs, she said. And so, it would be good if flexible work arrangements for caregiving could also be extended to this group of people, instead of just to immediate family members. "I know implementation may not be that easy, but then if there's some evidence to demonstrate that this person is providing some form of caregiving, perhaps based on a set of criteria, then I don't see why we should not extend such benefits to these caregivers," she said. On their part, parents of only-children who spoke to CNA TODAY said they are fully aware that they must prepare themselves for their elderly years to minimise the burden on their children in future. Ms Aw and her husband, for example, are trying their best to ensure that they are prepared financially and socially for their silver years. This includes having a good social network and healthy hobbies and interests, so that they do not need to turn solely to their daughter for their emotional and social needs in the future. As for herself as an only child, Ms Aw recalled feeling some "internal tension" when she was mulling the decision to move to South Africa. This was especially because her father had experienced a minor health scare just before they were due to relocate. Now, she tries her best to call her parents daily and tap extended family members and her parents' friends to check on them or take them out on special occasions. Ultimately, she and her parents arrived at the mutual understanding that she, too, needs to do what is best for her own family – even if it means that she cannot be physically present for them all the time.
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Health
- Irish Times
US to destroy almost $10m in contraceptives rather than send abroad for women in need
The Trump administration has decided to destroy $9.7 million (€8.34m) worth of contraceptives rather than send them abroad to women in need. A state department spokesperson confirmed that the decision had been made – a move that will cost US taxpayers $167,000. The contraceptives are primarily long-acting, such as IUDs and birth control implants, and were almost certainly intended for women in Africa, according to two senior congressional aides, one of whom visited a warehouse in Belgium that housed the contraceptives. It is not clear to the aides whether the destruction has already been carried out, but said they had been told that it was set to occur by the end of July. 'It is unacceptable that the State Department would move forward with the destruction of more than $9m in taxpayer-funded family planning commodities purchased to support women in crisis settings, including war zones and refugee camps,' Jeanne Shaheen, a Democratic senator from New Hampshire, said in a statement. Ms Shaheen and Brian Schatz, a Democratic senator from Hawaii, have introduced legislation to stop the destruction. 'This is a waste of US taxpayer dollars and an abdication of US global leadership in preventing unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and maternal deaths,' added Ms Shaheen, who in June sent a letter to the secretary of state, Marco Rubio , about the matter. READ MORE The department decided to destroy the contraceptives because it could not sell them to any 'eligible buyers', in part because of US laws and rules that prohibit sending US aid to organisations that provide abortion services, counsel people about the procedure or advocate for the right to it overseas, according to the state department spokesperson. Most of the contraceptives have less than 70 per cent of their shelf life left before they expire, the spokesperson said, and rebranding and selling the contraceptives could cost several million dollars. However, the aide who visited the warehouse said that the earliest expiration date they saw on the contraceptives was 2027, and that two-thirds of the contraceptives did not have any USAid labels that would need to be rebranded. The eradication of the contraceptives is part of the Trump administration's months-long demolition of the Agency for International Development (USAid), the largest funding agency for humanitarian and development aid in the world. After the unofficial 'department of Government efficiency' (Doge) erased 83 per cent of USAID's programmes, Rubio announced in June that USAID's entire international workforce would be abolished and its foreign assistance programs would be moved to the state department. The agency will be replaced by an organisation called United States First. In total, the funding cuts to USAid could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, according to a recent study published in the journal the Lancet. A third of those deaths could be children. 'If you have an unintended pregnancy and you end up having to seek unsafe abortion, it's quite likely that you will die,' said Sarah Shaw, the associate director of advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices, a global family planning organisation that works in nearly 40 countries. 'If you're not given the means to space or limit your births, you're putting your life at risk or your child's life at risk.' The fact that the contraceptives are going to be burned when there's so much need – it's just egregious Sar Shaw, MSI Reproductive Choices MSI tried to purchase the contraceptives from the US Government, Ms Shaw said. But the Government would only accept full price – which Shaw said the agency could not afford, given that MSI would also have to shoulder the expense of transportingthe contraceptives and the fact that they are inching closer to their expiration date, which could affect MSI's ability to distribute them. The state department spokesperson did not specifically respond to a request for comment on Ms Shaw's allegation, but MSI does provide abortions as part of its global work, which may have led the department to rule it out as an 'eligible buyer'. In an internal survey, MSI programs in 10 countries reported that, within the next month, they expect to be out of stock or be on the brink of being out of stock of at least one contraceptive method. The countries include Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Senegal, Kenya and Sierra Leone. Ms Shaw expects the stock to be incinerated. 'The fact that the contraceptives are going to be burned when there's so much need – it's just egregious,' she said. 'It's disgusting.' The Department of State spokesperson did not respond to a request for information on the planned method of destruction. The destruction of the contraceptives is, to Ms Shaw, emblematic of the overall destruction of a system that once provided worldwide help to women and families. USAid funding is threaded through so much of the global supply chain of family planning aid that, without its money, the chain has come apart. In Mali, Ms Shaw said, USAid helped pay for the gas used by the vehicles that transport contraceptives from a warehouse. Without the gas money, the vehicles were stuck – and so were the contraceptives. 'I've worked in this sector for over 20 years and I've never seen anything on this scale,' Ms Shaw said. 'The speed at which they've managed to dismantle excellent work and really great progress – I mean, it's just vanished in weeks.' Food waste Other kinds of assistance are also reportedly being wasted. This week, the Atlantic reported that almost 500 metric tons of emergency food were expiring and would be incinerated, rather than being used to feed about 1.5 million children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Meanwhile, almost 800,000 Mpox vaccines that were supposed to be sent to Africa are now unusable because they are too close to their expiration date, according to Politico. The cuts to foreign aid are slated to deepen. Early on Friday morning, Congress passed a bill to claw back roughly $8 billion that had been earmarked for foreign assistance. 'It's not just about an empty shelf,' Ms Shaw said. 'It's about unfulfilled potential. It's about a girl having to drop out of school. It's about someone having to seek an unsafe abortion and risking their lives. That's what it's really about.' – Guardian
