INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
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.
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 United States 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-seated effect,& Aylward added.
The WHO said the cuts were already rolling back vital
services for maternal, newborn and child health in many countries, reducing staff numbers, closing facilities and disrupting supply chains
for supplies including treatments for hemorrhage and pre-eclampsia.
Cuts to other areas, such as malaria and HIV treatment, would also
impact maternal survival, the UN said.
Even before the aid cuts led by the United States, things were backsliding in some countries, and
progress has slowed globally since 2016, the report said.
In 2023, despite recent progress, a woman still died roughly every two minutes &
around 260,000 in total that year & from complications that were mainly preventable and treatable, it added.
The situation was particularly
bad in countries affected by conflict or natural disaster, although the United States itself is one of only four countries to have seen its
maternal mortality rate increase significantly since 2000, alongside Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.
The COVID-19 pandemic
also had an impact, the report said: 40,000 more women died due to pregnancy or childbirth in 2021, bringing the total number of deaths that
year to 322,000.
&While this report shows glimmers of hope, the data also highlights how dangerous pregnancy still is in much of the world
today & despite the fact that solutions exist,& WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
The post Aid cuts could leave more
women dying in pregnancy and birth, UN says first appeared on TINS News.
