Namibia’s President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, rejected a proposal from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to conduct trials of a new hormonal intrauterine device (IUD) in the country. The device is designed to prevent pregnancy for up to eight years.

President Nandi-Ndaitwah in a statement described the plan as a “profound injustice” to the Namibian people and humanity as a whole.

“Namibia is a nation of modest size, with a population of just over three million. If any country should consider measures to curb population growth, it ought to be nations like the United States, with over 347 million people.

“Any attempt to hinder or suppress the growth of human potential in Namibia constitutes a grave injustice to our people and their future.”

Over the years, the Gates foundation have faced repeated accusations of testing drugs, vaccines, and even genetically modified foods in the Global South that critics allege may be unsafe or have not undergone sufficient independent review.

Though the foundation has consistently denied wrongdoing and insists its programs aim to improve health and fight poverty, suspicion remains high in parts of Africa.