Crucial progress to stop women and babies dying in childbirth is now in reverse

Hard-won successes in efforts to stop women and babies dying in childbirth have faced a serious setback with recent cuts to foreign aid – and the trend is now reversing in some countries, new figures show.

Significant progress in tackling preventable maternal mortality across the globe had seen the rate decline by 40% in the last two decades.

However, the latest data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests this progress has slowed in recent years, and recent aid cuts by the US, as well as other countries including Britain, will start to reverse those crucial gains.

With Donald Trump in particular slashing America’s foreign assistance programmes by 57%t last year, global aid fell by 23% cent in 2025 compared to 2024, and is projected to drop by a further 5.8% in 2026.

Maternal mortality is particularly acute in parts of Africa, and is already playing out in the Central African Republic, which has the second-highest rate of neonatal deaths globally, according to the UN.

Monica Ferro, head of the United Nations Population Fund’s London office, said that the work over the last 20 years had given the world “hope that finally the world would be on track to reach zero preventable maternal deaths”.

“We know that when funding is cut, services are shut down and women die. It is that simple. It may sound cruel, but it is that simple, and we have the evidence to prove it.”

“It is very disappointing. The women and girls who are losing access to services will not forgive us for promising them a world with more dignity and then failing them because funding is being withdrawn.”

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Source: The Independent, 10 May 2026