Mothers, Babies Started Dying in Nepal After Trump-Musk USAID Cuts Shuttered Lifesaving Programmes

Pregnant women and newborns in rural Nepal began dying again after US foreign aid cuts shut down maternal health programmes that had helped keep mothers and babies alive, according to an Associated Press report.

Kabita Mukhiya, a young mother in Nepal's Rautahat district, spent weeks in pain while pregnant with her fourth child. Aid workers who once visited villages to check on pregnant women had stopped coming after US funding cuts shuttered a programme focused on maternal and newborn health.

Kabita did not recognise the danger signs. By the time her aunt took her to hospital, doctors confirmed that her baby had died. Soon after, Kabita's own condition collapsed. She suffered complications from eclampsia, with severe anaemia contributing significantly, according to medical workers cited in the report.

She died before doctors could move her into intensive care.

Lifesaving Outreach Disappeared

The cancelled programme had trained nurses, midwives and female community health volunteers to visit pregnant women at home, explain warning signs and encourage prenatal check-ups.

In Nepal, a five-year, $35 million (£25.83 million) US-funded programme had reached more than 100,000 women and girls in its first three years before it was cut. Health workers said that the programme helped families understand when pregnancy symptoms were dangerous and when hospital care was urgent.

Rajkumari Patel, a community health volunteer, said she would have checked Kabita for swelling, anaemia and reduced baby movement.

'This woman needs a hospital today – not tomorrow,' Patel said of the signs she believes she would have noticed.

Newborn Deaths Return

The effects were also visible in local health records. In Prempur Gonahi, officials said the village used to record 10 to 15 newborn deaths a year before the programme began in 2022. By 2024, records showed zero.

After the cuts, newborns began dying again. One death was recorded in December, followed by four more by March. At another birthing centre in Dewahi Gonahi, prenatal visits have reportedly fallen by half since the funding stopped. Health workers said that means complications are being missed until they become emergencies.

Global Child Deaths May Rise

The Nepal cases are part of a wider warning about the consequences of foreign aid cuts. The Gates Foundation has predicted that 2025 could become the first year this century in which child deaths increase.

A study published in The Lancet estimated that US cuts could contribute to more than 14 million deaths by 2030, including more than 4.5 million children under five. The World Health Organization said US cuts and reductions by other donor countries forced 60% of women's organisations to reduce services.

Rajat Khosla, executive director of WHO's Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, called it 'heartbreaking', saying decades of progress were being washed away.

US Denies Cuts Caused Deaths

The US government has repeatedly denied that its funding cuts caused deaths. The cuts followed a dramatic assault on USAID in early 2025, when Elon Musk, acting through the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, targeted the agency and described it as 'beyond repair.'

Musk said he had spent one weekend 'feeding USAID into the wood chipper.' With Trump's support, the administration moved to dismantle the foreign aid agency and fold it into the State Department, locking out employees, freezing global assistance and triggering legal and constitutional challenges.

Musk also labelled USAID a 'criminal organization' and claimed on social media that 90% of its funding was wasted or mismanaged, while amplifying unverified online claims and conspiracy theories about the agency.

The State Department said in a statement that the Trump administration had refocused assistance programmes around efficiency, effectiveness and partnership. It also said the US still supports maternal and child health programmes in Nepal and spends more on health and humanitarian assistance than any other country.

But in Rautahat, families say the damage is already real. Kabita left behind three young children. Her aunt, Shraddha Mukhiya, said someone with medical knowledge might have saved her.

'She was too young to die,' she said.