USAID Contraceptives in Belgium: "This stock, in perfect working order, must be seized, because the needs are immense"

A stockpile of contraceptives funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), valued at nearly $10 million [approximately €8.51 million] , has been stored for months in Geel, Belgium . These millions of pills, implants and IUDs, still usable until 2031, were intended for the poorest African countries without a pharmaceutical industry.

Since early 2025, USAID has been in the process of being dismantled by the Trump administration . The Anglo-Saxon press revealed that the American administration attempted to negotiate a resale of the stockpile to private NGOs, such as the Gates Foundation or MSI Reproductive Choices . A destruction order was issued in June by the American administration, with incineration in France at a cost higher than that of transporting it to the beneficiary countries.

Only the mobilization of NGOs, feminist movements, political parties, and civil society has so far prevented the destruction. On September 11, the American authorities falsely claimed to the New York Times that the stockpile had been destroyed, before this information was denied by the Flemish authorities, who confirmed that the stockpile was still in Geel.

This imbroglio illustrates the great confusion caused by the end of USAID. In a context of total opacity, the US agency no longer responds to requests for information, despite its obligations to be transparent about its official development assistance operations. Its main service provider, Chemonics, retreats behind its role as an intermediary and chooses to remain silent about its activities.

The Swiss logistics company Kuehne + Nagel, which holds the stock in Geel, is holding the products without any party taking responsibility. The only certainty is that immobilizing the stock is expensive, estimated at several hundred thousand euros in annual storage costs, presumably paid by the American taxpayer. Regulations exist to prevent this stock from going up in smoke.

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