Aid cuts could leave more women dying in pregnancy and birth: UN | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
June 11, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2025
Aid cuts could leave more women dying in pregnancy and birth: UN

World+Biz

Reuters
07 April, 2025, 01:50 pm
Last modified: 07 April, 2025, 01:57 pm

Related News

  • US believes Russia response to Ukraine drone attack not over yet, expects multi-pronged strike
  • Chinese consumer prices continue to fall as US trade talks loom
  • Trump's travel ban on 12 countries goes into effect
  • Los Angeles police order protesters in downtown to go home
  • Musk, hardline US Republicans ramp up attacks on Trump tax and spending bill

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

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

Reuters
07 April, 2025, 01:50 pm
Last modified: 07 April, 2025, 01:57 pm
The World Health Organisation (WHO) logo is seen near its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
The World Health Organisation (WHO) logo is seen near its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

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 US government and the ending of funding through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for many programmes.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

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 US 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 report itself was part-funded by USAID.

Top News

USAID / Trump administration / aid cut / Maternal mortality

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Bangladesh's growth forecast unchanged: WB report
    Bangladesh's growth forecast unchanged: WB report
  • Faiz Ahmad Tayeb. Photo: BSS
    Import duty on raw materials for e-bikes, lithium batteries reduced from 80% to 1% in some cases: Faiz Taiyeb
  • Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who departed Israel by plane on Tuesday after being detained aboard the Gaza-bound British-flagged yacht "Madleen" after Israeli forces boarded the charity vessel as it attempted to reach the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade, talks to journalists surrounded by French police as she arrives at a terminal at the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, in Roissy-en-France near Paris, France, June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
    Greta Thunberg says she was kidnapped by Israel in international waters

MOST VIEWED

  • Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS
    Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon
  • A file photo of Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur. Photo: Collected
    'I have no relation with this': Ahsan Mansur debunks Joy’s allegations over daughter’s Dubai flat
  • Faiz Ahmad Tayeb. Photo: BSS
    Import duty on raw materials for e-bikes, lithium batteries reduced from 80% to 1% in some cases: Faiz Taiyeb
  • Screengrab from video shows a group of local youths forcing tourists to leave a tourist spot in Utmachhra area of Sylhet's Companiganj on Sunday, 8 June 2025, citing allegations of obscene activities and environmental damage
    Locals declare tourist spot in Sylhet 'closed', force visitors to leave
  • Shakil Ahmed. Photo: Collected
    DU student allegedly hangs himself following threats over old derogatory comment about Prophet on Facebook
  • Photo shows the Land Cruiser Prado car belonging to former member of parliament (MP) Anwarul Azim Anar found in Kushtia. Photo: TBS
    Luxury car of ex-AL MP Anar, who was killed in Kolkata, found in Kushtia

Related News

  • US believes Russia response to Ukraine drone attack not over yet, expects multi-pronged strike
  • Chinese consumer prices continue to fall as US trade talks loom
  • Trump's travel ban on 12 countries goes into effect
  • Los Angeles police order protesters in downtown to go home
  • Musk, hardline US Republicans ramp up attacks on Trump tax and spending bill

Features

Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

11h | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

1d | Features
Photo collage shows political posters in Bagerhat. Photos: Jannatul Naym Pieal

From Sheikh Dynasty to sibling rivalry: Bagerhat signals a turning tide in local politics

3d | Bangladesh
Illustration: TBS

Unbearable weight of the white coat: The mental health crisis in our medical colleges

6d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Greta Thunberg deported from Israel

Greta Thunberg deported from Israel

13h | TBS World
BNP is not a revolutionary party: Mirza Fakhrul

BNP is not a revolutionary party: Mirza Fakhrul

14h | TBS Today
News of The Day, 10 JUNE 2025

News of The Day, 10 JUNE 2025

12h | TBS News of the day
Trump sends 2,000 more National Guard and 700 Marines to Los Angeles

Trump sends 2,000 more National Guard and 700 Marines to Los Angeles

15h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net