One Year Later: How EngenderHealth Protected Care After Major Policy Changes
Resilience, reinvention, and the road ahead after the end of U.S. government funding.
One year ago, the new Administration took office and began to issue sweeping executive orders that sought to undo decades of progress in sexual and reproductive health and rights. The dismantling of USAID’s global health programs, restrictions on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and regressive gender policies were designed to silence communities, roll back rights, and reshape care through ideology—not evidence.
It has been a year of disruption, but also one of determination.
When the U.S. government withdrew funding, EngenderHealth did not retreat. We protected care in Guinea, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Ethiopia—keeping clinics open, ensuring fistula surgeries proceeded, and bridging contraceptive supply gaps. We restructured our operations to safeguard staff and programs and began building a stronger, more sustainable future.
This moment forced us to reinvent how we work:
- We are shifting power to local leadership, advancing a new Country Support Model that ensures programs are designed and led by in-country teams.
- We are diversifying funding, expanding corporate and philanthropic partnerships to reduce reliance on volatile government aid.
- We are integrating across sectors, connecting reproductive health with nutrition, education, climate resilience, and gender equality to strengthen entire health systems.
We’re not stepping back—we’re stepping into the future we’ve been building all along.
EngenderHealth’s future will be defined not by what was taken away, but by what we are building: a more resilient, locally led, and globally connected movement for health and human rights.
Thank you for standing with us in this pivotal year, and for believing in the world we’re creating together.
As we look ahead, we invite you to stay with us on this journey. Together, let’s turn the page toward a new era for sexual and reproductive health and rights—one grounded in partnership, possibility, and lasting progress.