Death by aid cuts: how a decision in the US led to the loss of a mother in Yemen

"When she woke on that Sunday morning, Fatima was part of a family preparing to celebrate she was due to give birth to her third child any day and her brother was on his way home from Saudi Arabia to get married. But by mid-afternoon, the family were instead preparing for a funeral both Fatima and her baby were dead."

"When Fatima's labour pains began on 25 May, her parents took her to the nearby al-Eis health clinic. I kept telling her, you must be near the doctor, because if anything happens, it's better for it to happen there,' recalls her mother. Fatima had already needed a blood transfusion late in her pregnancy. When we finally took her to the doctor, everything was fine she was even walking on her own."

Fatima, pregnant with her third child, woke expecting family celebrations but died alongside her baby that afternoon. Her death can be traced to decisions made weeks earlier in Washington DC. She lived in Dhubay'ah village in eastern Yemen, where sporadic aid efforts exist and many women marry young. Yemen's maternal mortality is high: about 118 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared with eight in the UK, with one woman dying every two hours. When labour began on 25 May, her parents took her to the al-Eis health clinic after a late-pregnancy blood transfusion; she was seen by midwives and the unit doctor.

Read at www.theguardian.com