LONDON/NAIROBI – The United States is spending almost US$25,000 (S$32,073) every month to store contraceptives in Belgium that were originally bought for use in poorer nations but are now mainly unusable, according to a report from officials reviewed by Reuters.
Around US$9.7 million worth of contraceptives, including implants and pills, have been stuck in a Belgian warehouse since January 2025, when the US first froze foreign aid. The stock could have helped prevent millions of unwanted pregnancies and saved lives, aid sources have said.
Between January 2025 and March 2026, storing and transporting the stock has cost US$360,667, according to the report from the Office of the Inspector General for the now-dismantled US Agency for International Development.
The report also said that storing the contraceptives is still costing US$24,550 every month.
The US government did not respond to requests for comment.
The report says the figures were provided by Chemonics, the contractor that managed the procurement and delivery of the contraceptives for the US government. Chemonics did not respond to questions.
When the contract to deliver the contraceptives was cancelled by the US, Chemonics originally tried to find a buyer for them or an organization that would facilitate a donation. Efforts faltered in part due to a lack of response from the US over the future of the stock, sources told Reuters at the time.
Reproductive rights organisations have repeatedly urged US authorities to release the supplies for use by women in lower-income nations.
“It is indefensible that at a time of acute global need, millions of dollars’ worth of lifesaving family planning supplies has been left to rot for nearly a whole year, while US taxpayers face an ever-mounting storage bill,” said Beth Schlachter, senior director of external relations and advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices.
“Waste on this scale is simply unconscionable,” she added.
In June 2025, the US ordered the stock moved and then destroyed. During that process, 20 of 24 truckloads – or around US$8 million of the contraceptives – became unusable, as they were not stored safely or under temperature-controlled conditions, the report said. The transportation of the remaining US$1.7 million of stock was paused.
Then in September, the US reversed the order to destroy the contraceptives. It has not yet given further instruction on their future, despite a proposal from Chemonics to donate the usable US$1.7 million of stock to a recipient in Uganda, at a cost of US$239,000, the report said.
A source familiar with the discussions said the last contact between the US government and the Belgian government, which had also proposed taking over or buying the goods through a humanitarian organisation, was around three to four months ago. REUTERS
