The UK faces criticism after cutting nearly all aid to Sierra Leone, including a £35m maternal health grant, amid plans to shrink development funds by 40%.
In addition to working to guarantee access to blood and testing for avoidable causes of motherly death, similar as pre-eclampsia (a dangerous condition causing high blood pressure), the UK- funded program in Sierra Leone handed necessary specifics and training in hospitals.
Its backing will drop from £35 million to £1 million by 2027 before closing, and it's run by a group of charities that includes Concern Worldwide and Helen Keller International.
Many details have been released therefore far, but the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) has suggested that some nations will fully cease entering. However, subsidies to nations were being reduced "quite quietly behind the scenes," according to Pete Baker, deputy director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development think tank, who spoke with The Independent.
“You'd hope that they'd be willing to be more transparent around some of these cuts given that lives are at stake,”
he said.
The FCDO is prioritizing expenditure on large international funds, such as the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and the global vaccine alliance Gavi, despite having a considerably smaller aid budget. Though on a smaller scale than the 40% cut to the aid budget overall, these funds have nonetheless been reduced.
Additionally, the administration has promised to continue supporting humanitarian efforts in Sudan, Gaza, and the Ukraine. There is money left over after these expenses are covered, which might be sent straight to other needy nations.
There are concerns about how the Sierra Leonean government would handle unforeseen costs as another portion of the Unicef funding, which covers purchasing necessary medications for pregnancy and childbirth, expires in March.
Unicef spokesperson for Sierra Leone, Suzanne Wooster, said:
“Reductions in funding for newborn and child health risk disrupting essential services at a critical time.
Unicef continues to work closely with the government of Sierra Leone and partners to mitigate impacts and safeguard gains made for children and newborns.”
“We understand there's some trade-offs there,”
Mr Baker, of the Center for Global Development, said.
“But this is one of the poorest countries in the world.
It's got really terrible maternal mortality and child mortality rates”.
Further information about the distribution of aid cuts over the following three years was supposed to be released by the FCDO in the fall, but it has been postponed until perhaps next year.
An FCDO spokesperson said:
“The UK is committed to defending and promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights, and we will continue to work with international partners in support of women and girls.”
But, they added, the department has been, “clear we must modernise our approach to development reflect the changing global context”.
They stated that over the previous ten years, the UK had contributed more than £187.9 million to Sierra Leone's health system.
It would be a "shame to lose" the UK's "long history of both leadership in global health and reasonably good transparency around some of its decision-making," according to Mr. Baker.
Sierra Leone had been, “a very high priority for UK aid and it's getting some very severe cuts,” he added.
“I think that would be helpful for the public to understand”.
What immediate impacts will reduced ambulance services cause?
UK aid cuts to Sierra Leone's" Saving Lives" programme, including ambulance services, have formerly caused immediate breakdowns, with ambulances running out of energy and over 300 emergency referrals halted since February 2025.
Without energy and conservation, vehicles stopped, stranding cases and risking deaths during the 2- 4 hour peregrinations from pastoral areas to installations.
Losses compound high mortality (motherly 1,100/ 100k births); delayed transfers mean undressed breakdown or sepsis, with King's College London mates reporting stalled trauma care and solar- powered theatres in linked regions. No transition backing exacerbates chaos amid fragile structure.