A newborn was admitted to Nangarhar Regional Hospital in eastern Afghanistan in February last year with sepsis and birth asphyxia, needing a constant supply of oxygen to survive. Yet the oxygen plant that supplied piped oxygen to 50 paediatric beds had stopped functioning – a month before, the Trump administration had ordered a freeze on US foreign aid.
At least 180 health workers from a vital US-funded health project in the region had been laid off, Dr Shah Mohammed Qazizda, a doctor and former United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project manager, tells The Independent. Maintenance of critical equipment, such as the oxygen plant, had also stopped.
