The article highlights the dire consequences of USAID funding cuts on Afghanistan's healthcare system, particularly maternal and infant health. As crucial health clinics close, midwives report rising fatalities among women and newborns due to inaccessible care during childbirth. The abrupt suspension of aid under the Trump administration led to the closure of over 200 health facilities, exacerbating a crisis as funding reductions from other European donors follow suit. Urgent measures are needed to prevent further facility closures and to ensure maternal health care is accessible to those in remote locations.
"USAID should not have left Afghanistan. We are devastated," says Fatima, a 27-year-old midwife, who has worked in maternal care for the past seven years.
"It seems to be that other donors are following the U.S. what Trump has done is give everyone a license to give up on funding aid," says Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch.
The WHO report said without urgent intervention, around 200 more facilities would shut down by June, impacting around 2.4 million people.
By February 19 just a month after Trump was inaugurated and announced a suspension of USAID funding more than 320 health facilities had shuttered.
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