The Global Story The cost of USAID cuts to women in Afghanistan
Oct 23, 2025
Yogita Limaye, a seasoned BBC correspondent covering South Asia and Afghanistan, shares her harrowing insights following USAID funding cuts. She vividly recounts the closure of over 400 clinics, leading to tragic outcomes for pregnant women, including a heartbreaking story of a roadside childbirth. As hospitals become overcrowded and underfunded, she highlights the desperate measures families are taking amid severe food insecurity. Limaye also addresses the Taliban's restrictions on women's medical education and the growing sense of abandonment felt by Afghan women.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Roadside Birth After Clinic Closure
- Abdul Wakeel rushed his laboring wife to a nearby clinic and found its door shuttered.
- She gave birth by the roadside, bled heavily and later died along with the newborn.
Maternal Deaths Largely Unrecorded
- Yogita Limaye found maternal deaths in closed-clinic districts are not being recorded.
- These uncounted deaths create a silent wave of mortality unseen by policymakers.
Provincial Hospital Overwhelmed
- Provincial hospitals overflowed after local clinics closed, with three women sharing many beds.
- Staff reported increases in miscarriages and no spare beds for bleeding women.