SRHR at Risk | Download PDF | July 2025

Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are fundamental to the participation of women and girls in building healthier societies and advancing peace, security, and economic growth. However, global attainment of SRHR remains limited, with women and girls facing multiple challenges, including regressive social norms, discriminatory political and legal frameworks, and economic deprivation.

Although efforts have been made in recent years to address these issues, any progress in advancing SRHR is now at risk through widespread budget cuts across multiple donor countries, impacting low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that depend heavily on external funding. Considering the critical role of official development assistance (ODA) in supporting global SRHR, assessment of the contributions and consequences of the recent funding reductions is critical.

The background brief SRHR at Risk: Exploring the Consequences of Declining Development Aid in LMICs takes a closer look at recent trends that have targeted ODA for budget cuts in a number of the largest donors, including the US, Germany and the Netherlands. In doing so, the brief looks to available research that suggests consequences of these cuts is already being felt. Meanwhile, projections suggest the worst consequences are yet to come.

Finally, we give a number of suggestions to recipient governments, donor governments and policymakers in general on finding a way forward that ensures that most vulnerable are not left behind.

Explore the full policy brief here: https://haiweb.org/storage/2025/07/SRHR-at-Risk.pdf

This background brief is based on research carried out by Oumaima el Mimouni as part of her internship at Health Action International (March – July 2025).