U.S. Aid Cuts Trigger Rise in Maternal and Infant Deaths in Nepal

The dissolution of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by the Trump administration eliminated key nutrition and reproductive-health programs in Nepal. According to the Associated Press, the loss of U.S. Programs that once supplied supplements, equipped birthing centers and dispatched outreach workers were discontinued, leaving many women without essential prenatal care.

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USAID had been the world’s largest humanitarian donor, supporting maternal-child health initiatives in Nepal that reached 100,000 women and girls during the first three years of operation. The World Health Organization reported that foreign-aid reductions forced 60 percent of women’s organizations in Nepal to scale back services. The U.S. State Department maintains that it continues to back certain maternal-health projects, but health workers on the ground describe a “devastating and deadly impact” from the program closures.

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• Prior to the CARE-run outreach program in Rautahat (launched December 2022), the village of Prempur Gonahi recorded 10-15 neonatal deaths per year. By 2024, deaths fell to zero, but after the program’s cancellation, five newborns died between December and March.

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• The Gates Foundation warned that 2025 could become the first year of the century in which child mortality rises, a trend they link to the broader aid cuts.

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• The death of 20-year-old Kabita Mukhiya illustrates the clinical picture: eclampsia and severe anemia, conditions that regular prenatal visits could have identified.

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The U.S. Nepalese health officials, however, contend that the abrupt loss of equipment, medicines and trained staff has left birthing centers “devoid of” essential resources.

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• “The number of deaths of mothers, young mothers, during delivery has really increased,” — Mona Sherpa, country director for the aid group CARE Nepal

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• “I would have asked her, ‘Is the baby kicking? When did you last feel movement?’ I would have checked for swelling in her hands and face. I would have looked at her eyes for signs of anemia,” — Rajkumari Patel

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