Aid cuts could leave more women dying in pregnancy and birth, UN says

Jennifer Rigby - Reuters - 07/04
Cuts to aid budgets are threatening to undermine years of progress in reducing the number of women dying during pregnancy and childbirth, and could lead to a rise in deaths, the United Nations has warned.
  • Recent progress could be undermined, UN warns
  • Warnings come in wake of US aid freeze
  • One woman died every two minutes from complications in 2023
LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - Cuts to aid budgets are threatening to undermine years of progress in reducing the number of women dying during pregnancy and childbirth, and could lead to a rise in deaths, the United Nations has warned.
Globally, there was a 40% decline in maternal deaths between 2000 and 2023, a report by UN agencies including the World Health Organization (WHO) showed on Monday, largely due to better access to essential health services.

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That could now go into reverse, the WHO said in a statement accompanying the report which did not mention specific cuts but came in the wake of a foreign aid freeze by the U.S. government and the ending of funding through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for many programmes.
Other donor countries including Britain have also announced plans to cut aid budgets.
"One of the headline messages is that the funding cuts risk not only that progress, but we could have a shift backward," said Dr Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director-General, Universal Health Coverage at the WHO.
The cuts have had "pandemic-like effects" on health systems globally and could have a "more structural, deep-seate...
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