US pays $24,550 a month to store unusable contraceptives in Belgium
What's new: A watchdog report found about $8 million of the stock became unusable after unsafe transport, with only $1.7 million still potentially fit for donation.
The United States is still paying $24,550 a month to store contraceptives in Belgium that were bought for poorer countries but are now largely unusable, according to a report reviewed by Reuters. The Office of the Inspector General for the dismantled US Agency for International Development said about $9.7 million in implants and pills have been stuck since January 2025, when US foreign aid was frozen. The report said 20 of 24 truckloads, worth roughly $8 million, became unusable after they were moved under unsafe, non-temperature-controlled conditions during a June 2025 destruction order. Washington later reversed that order in September, but has not decided the stock's fate. A proposal to donate the remaining $1.7 million in usable supplies to Uganda is still pending.