Overview

• France’s health ministry says it lacks legal authority to requisition the contraceptive stocks because they are not classified as medicines of major therapeutic interest.
• The $10 million stock of implants and IUDs procured under USAID contracts during the Biden presidency remains scheduled for incineration at an undisclosed facility in France.
• Belgian authorities have launched diplomatic démarches with U.S. officials to seek alternatives to destruction.
• Feminist NGOs, unions and associations have urged waste-management firms to refuse the incineration order, calling the decision senseless.
• A petition organised by feminist and union groups has surpassed 10,000 signatures urging governments to prevent the destruction and redirect the supplies to sub-Saharan Africa.