At least one million women and girls have lost access to life-saving support over the past year as sweeping reductions in global donor funding force humanitarian organizations to scale back services, according to a United Nations report published on Friday.
The report by UN Women found that demand for assistance has increased while funding has fallen sharply, leaving most organizations unable to meet growing needs.
The United States, previously the world's largest aid donor, cut billions of dollars in foreign assistance after President Donald Trump's administration returned to office in January 2025.
Other major donors, including Germany, France and the United Kingdom, have also reduced aid budgets amid domestic fiscal pressures and increased defence spending.
The UN Women report surveyed 855 women's organizations across 52 vulnerable countries, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti.
It found that 40 percent of the organizations face temporary or permanent shutdown within the next year because of funding shortages.
Nearly nine in 10 organizations reported they can no longer meet demand despite rising humanitarian needs.
Sixty percent said they are reaching fewer women and girls than before January 2025, while half said they have introduced waiting lists or turned people away.
The report also found that 65 percent of women-led organizations said staff are working without pay to keep services operating, and more than three-quarters have reduced staffing.
UN Women said the funding reductions are creating critical gaps in humanitarian assistance, particularly where women's organizations are the only groups able to reach those in need.
The report noted that 120 million women and girls worldwide require humanitarian assistance and protection.
As conflict-related sexual violence doubled over the past year, 62 percent of organizations reported that safe spaces are no longer available or have been reduced, alongside cuts to gender-based violence services.
UN Women also said one-fifth of organizations have suspended work advancing women's leadership and gender equality.
"Every dollar withdrawn from women’s organizations is a dollar withdrawn from survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, displaced mothers, girls forced from school, and communities struggling to survive," said Sofia Calltorp, UN Women's Chief of Humanitarian Action.