Securing sustainable change for women: the impact of WISH

Policy and advocacy   |   14 July 2025   |   5 min read

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As the WISH Director at MSI Reproductive Choices, I am proud to lead our contribution to the UK government’s flagship Women’s Integrated Sexual Health programme, partnering with national governments across West and Central Africa to support women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. With the announcement earlier this year that the UK government will dramatically reduce their ODA budget, this programme is now at risk.

Growing up in Senegal, I have met so many people whose lives have been transformed by high-quality sexual and reproductive healthcare. I have also watched women needlessly lose their lives, because they were denied the right to safe abortion. I believe without a doubt that access to reproductive choice is life-changing, and lifesaving.

Since 2018, WISH, has worked alongside local, national, and global partners, to provide over 6.3 million people with lifesaving services, preventing 2.9 million unsafe abortions and saving 33,000 lives. These services have invested in women’s futures, supported girls to finish education and families to space pregnancies. By working hand in hand with governments, the partnership has strengthened health systems, deepened the UK’s partnerships with other governments and supported shifts that encourage political stability and foster economic growth.

Aisha, a teenager in Senegal (pictured) shared the impact contraception has had on her life: “At school, we often see girls become pregnant, sometimes by marriage, sometimes before. Usually, they don’t come back to school. Getting contraception helped me finish my studies. If it wasn’t for MSI, I don’t know what my life would be like today.”

Crucially, WISH delivers impactful long-term change, partnering with governments at a national, sub-national and facility level, offering training and supplies, so that governments are equipped to provide quality healthcare long after the WISH programme ends. This goal is in sight, but progress will be lost unless current funding is protected.

WISH has provided results and value for money to the UK taxpayer. Investing in reproductive health is one of the most powerful and cost-effective actions the UK government can take to save lives, uphold fundamental rights, and build healthier, more resilient and stable societies, returning up to $120 USD for every $1 spent. It costs just 3 pence a day to protect a woman from an unintended pregnancy and to date, WISH has saved over £292 million in healthcare costs for stretched health systems and leveraged over £80 million in funding from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and other private foundations.

Over the next 4 years, the WISH programme is projected to reach 2.6 million people in West and Central Africa reaching the most underserved communities, particularly adolescents, people living with disabilities and those living in extreme poverty. As I have witnessed myself, our countries are facing extreme humanitarian, climate and conflict related crises. If we cut back, lives and futures will be lost.

In climate-affected communities, MSI supports women with choices and healthcare to avoid pregnancy while navigating the crisis.

Strongly integrated with government plans and priorities, WISH is not ‘charity’. Working together with governments, it is building the capacity and quality of health systems to deliver. The programme has a clear exit strategy to ensure the gains made are sustained. At the end of the programme, public health workers will be providing quality services, policies that prevent access to women’s healthcare will be removed, communities will be more informed, and governments will be financing these services directly.

There is no ambiguity. As we saw with prior cuts, any reductions to the WISH programme will result in an increase in maternal deaths and damage to the UK’s global reputation as a trusted partner. It would also jeopardise the sustainable change we are so close to achieving. Analysis from the Guttmacher Institute has found that a 70% cut in UK funding for sexual and reproductive health and rights would result in an estimated 875,000 unsafe abortions, 2.6 million unintended pregnancies, and 2,740 maternal deaths globally. We cannot step back now; women’s lives depend on it.

WISH exemplifies the UK’s role as a longstanding and trusted partner to countries across Africa and Asia, working together to strengthen health systems and drive progress. As advancements on women’s rights and development stall—and in some places are reversed—we cannot retreat. Amid the rise of anti-rights movements threatening human rights and democracy, cutting funding for sexual and reproductive health and rights will create a vacuum that hostile actors will fill. For those who say we cannot afford to do this, I say we cannot afford not to. Protecting this investment at this pivotal moment would be a bold and decisive action. We must step forward for women and girls everywhere.

Sanou Gning is the WISH Director at MSI Reproductive Choices


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