Additional Context: As a result, the proportion of households unable to obtain necessary care has risen from 16% in 2024 to 23% in 2025, according to the U.N. Development Programme, or UNDP. Shortages of medicines and trained staff further compound this issue. Due to national restrictions on women working in healthcare settings and overall mobility, this figure is at 35% for women-led households.

Devex Researcher Note: While the U.S. is not specifically mentioned as solely responsible for the cuts in the source document, aid disbursements from the U.S. to Afghanistan were reduced by nearly half between 2023 and 2024, and ultimately fell significantly more after the 2025 aid cuts. Humanitarian funding from the U.S. decreased from $728.6 million in 2024 to $243.2 million in 2025, with nothing pledged in 2026 — this alone accounts for 51.7% of the total reduction in humanitarian funds in this 3-year period. As previously reported by The Aid Report, many of the family clinics that shut down were directly supported by USAID or U.S. funding of U.N. agencies, including 14 in Baghlan Province and 30 providing health care for women in remote, rural areas, where U.S.-funded clinics were often the only source of healthcare. Upwards of 9,000 health staff, 50% of which were women, also lost their jobs following the closure of a USAID program for lifesaving maternal and newborn care.

Source: UNDP