A decision by the US government to incinerate more than $9.7m (£7.3m) of contraceptives is projected to result in 174,000 unintended pregnancies and 56,000 unsafe abortions in five African countries. More than three-quarters of the contraceptives (77%) were destined for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mali, according to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), an NGO global healthcare provider and advocate of sexual and reproductive rights. The contraceptives, many of which will not expire until 2027-29, had already been manufactured, packaged and ready for distribution. IPPF offered to take them for redistribution at no cost to the US taxpayer, but the offer was declined. Their destruction will deny more than 1.4 million women and girls in the five countries access to lifesaving care, IPPF said.