Additional Context: Due to national restrictions on women working in health care and mobility, this figure is at 35% for women-led households, according to the U.N. Development Programme, or UNDP. The increase in unobtainable healthcare is in large part due to the closure of 445 clinics supported by foreign development and humanitarian assistance nationwide, in addition to consequent shortages of medicines and trained staff. Many, if not all, of these facilities closed due to cuts to U.S. aid.

Devex Researcher Note: While the U.S. is not specifically mentioned as responsible for the cuts in the source document, aid disbursements from the U.S. to Afghanistanalmost halved 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 2024to$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. Previously reported in The Aid Report, many of the family clinics that shut were directly supported by USAID, including14 in Baghlan Province and30 providing healthcare for women in remote, rural areas, where U.S.-funded clinics were often the only source of healthcare. Upwards of9,000 health staff, 50% of which were women, also lost their jobs following the closure of an USAID mentoring program in lifesaving maternal and newborn care.

Source: UNDP