The UK has been accused of “quietly” axing virtually all aid money to Sierra Leone, including a a £35m grant for maternal and newborn health – the first example to emerge of a country losing out in the government’s plans to shrink the global development budget by 40 per cent.
The UK-funded programme to Sierra Leone was providing essential medicines and training in hospitals, as well as working to ensure access to blood and testing for preventable causes of maternal death like pre-eclampsia (a serious complication causing high blood pressure).
