There Is a Solution to the Global Health Care Crisis

In eastern Uganda, Khadijah Kantono, a mother of nine, began bleeding heavily while in labor last year. Rushed to a health center, midwife Irene Koote quickly recognized the danger signs, stabilized her, and immediately alerted the attending doctor for urgent intervention. Following the delivery, the doctor performed emergency surgery with the support of the midwife, removing Kantono’s torn uterus and ultimately saving her life.

Kantono survived because the system had a skilled health worker present and able to act. In many places around the world, that is not the case. Today, health systems everywhere are strained. In 2025, the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development and wider aid cuts by donor governments triggered immediate consequences. Clinics shut down, medicines and health workers disappeared, and the number of preventable deaths rose. The global contraction in foreign assistance exposed a much deeper problem: the fragility of a global health model that had been too reliant on short-term and fragmented donor-driven projects. The world knows how to fix this. Health care improves when countries are supported to lead and strengthen their own health systems, with external partners aligned behind national health strategies. Today’s moment of disruption offers an opportunity to ensure more mothers like Kantono survive. The stakes could not be higher. The rapid withdrawal of aid is projected to cause 22.6 million additional deaths by 2030, including 5.4 million children under five.

Key points

• Kantono survived because the system had a skilled health worker present and able to act.
• In many places around the world, that is not the case.
• Today, health systems everywhere are strained.
• In 2025, the dismantling of the U.S.
• Agency for International Development and wider aid cuts by donor governments triggered immediate consequences.