美国特朗普政府解散了国际开发署（USAID），这曾是世界最大的人道主义援助提供者[1][3]。援助削减直接导致尼泊尔的孕产妇和儿童保健项目中断，妇女组织被迫减少60%的服务[1][3]。一项曾覆盖超过10万名妇女和女孩、投入达3500万美元的五年计划也被取消[1]。
项目停止后的影响迅速显现。尼泊尔普雷姆普尔·戈纳希村的新生儿死亡率从零开始回升——在美国援助启动前，该村年均有10至15例新生儿死亡，经过援助支持后2024年降至零，但项目取消后，自12月起新生儿再次开始死亡[1][3]。孕妇卡比塔·穆基亚在妊娠28周时因子痫前期并发症和重度贫血去世，这些并发症本可通过定期产前检查识别和管理[1][2][3]。同时，儿童消瘦症患病率在援助停止后从7.4%上升至12.3%[1]。
CARE尼泊尔国家主任莫娜·舍帕指出："一年内预计发生的母亲死亡数正在4至6个月内发生"[3]。世界卫生组织预测2025年将成为本世纪儿童死亡首次增加的一年[1][2][3]。国际医学期刊《柳叶刀》发表的研究预测，美国援助削减可能导致到2030年超过1400万人死亡，其中包括超过450万5岁以下儿童[1]。
The Trump administration's dissolution of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), once the world's largest humanitarian aid provider, has triggered a collapse in maternal and child health services across Nepal and other countries.[1][3] The cutoff has forced women's organizations in Nepal to reduce services by 60 percent.[1]
A five-year, $35 million program in Nepal that had served over 100,000 women and girls has been canceled.[1] In one village in Rothhat District, the impacts have been stark: newborn deaths had dropped to zero in 2024 following years of American-funded health initiatives, but within months of the program's cancellation, deaths resumed in December 2024.[1][2] Prior to the aid programs, the same village averaged 10 to 15 newborn deaths annually.[1]
The loss of nutrition programs and prenatal care has had immediate and tragic consequences. Pregnant woman Kabita Mukhiya died at 28 weeks of gestation from preeclampsia complicated by severe anemia—conditions that could have been identified and managed through regular prenatal checkups.[1][3] The region has also seen malnutrition rates among children rise from 7.4 percent before aid interventions to 12.3 percent following the cuts.[1]
According to research published in The Lancet, the reduction in U.S. assistance could result in over 14 million deaths by 2030, including more than 4.5 million children under age five.[1] The World Health Organization has predicted that 2025 will be the first year this century in which child deaths increase globally.[1] CARE Nepal's national director, Mona Sherpa, stated that maternal deaths expected to occur over a year are now happening within four to six months.[3]