In crisis situations, women and girls are the most vulnerable population. Immediate aid is often focused on basic needs like food and water, while essential reproductive healthcare like family planning and protection from gender-based violence a overlooked are overlooked.
There are over 64,000 pregnant women amongst the Rohingya refugee population in Bangladesh in need of reproductive healthcare. This number is not surprising - when a humanitarian emergency strikes, harmful practices like child marriage, assault and rape are more prevalent.
For $150, you can provide supplies, medications and equipment to health clinics that help safely manage obstetric emergencies.
When resources are scarce, families are more likely to marry off their daughters, often to much older male strangers. Child marriage is closely linked with early pregnancy, which is the top killer of girls aged 15-19. In crisis settings, these girls are also less likely to have access to the prenatal and delivery care they need to have safe pregnancies. This means the lives of both the mother and baby are at risk.
It’s $5 for ONE emergency birth kit that includes a bar of soap, plastic sheet, razor blade, an umbilical cord tie, cloth and latex gloves. That means you can help save 10 mothers for just $50!
In addition to life-saving supplies, it’s crucial to build education and health services to empower Rohingya women and girls so that they can choose if, when, and with whom they want to have children.. UNFPA is increasing resources for sexual and reproductive health services, as well as offering skill training sessions for women so they can achieve economic independence-- one of the best ways to limit a woman’s exposure to violence.
It’s now been more than two years since the crux of the Rohingya refugee crisis, and there is no definite answer as to when they will be able to return home. This is why UNFPA is centering their efforts on making humanitarian aid sustainable, including training Rohingya women themselves to work in safe spaces and as midwives.
Midwives save lives. And it only takes $100 to fund a midwife for a single week.
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There are currently 20 active safe spaces for women and girls in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. 17 of those spaces were specifically created for Rohingya refugees.
Safe spaces for Rohingya refugees support the program, Girls Shine. Girls involved in the program learn about child marriage, puberty, and safety mapping. Safety mapping is when local knowledge is pooled and guides are created detailing which areas people in the community feel are important and which areas they feel safe to be in.
Safety mapping is one tool that prevents gender-based violence. The safe spaces also provide medical, psychosocial, and legal services for survivors of gender-based violence, including post-rape care.
Over 1.3 million people have fled persecution in Myanmar for nearby Bangladesh. About one-quarter of those migrants are women and girls of reproductive age.
Over the last year, UNFPA, the United Nations reproductive health and rights agency, has supported 20 women-friendly safe spaces, which provide care to women and girls in the refugee camps in Bangladesh, including 30,000 women who are pregnant or nursing.
Monsoon season lasts from June to October there. During this time, flooding and storms can devastate shelters for refugees. Some of the shelters, including some safe spaces, are made only of bamboo and plastic sheets.
$1,200 supports one midwife through monsoon season. Your donation saves lives!
UNFPA has strengthened safe spaces in anticipation of monsoon season and has stepped up the distribution of dignity kits. Dignity kits contain items like soap, underwear, a whistle, and menstrual supplies. The kits ensure that if a woman cannot make it to a safe space or if she is otherwise displaced by the storms, she still has the items she needs to be healthy and safe.
It only costs $25 to give one woman hygiene supplies -and her dignity- for 6 months.
Many new moms and soon-to-be mothers have received food vouchers to ensure that they get the nutrients they need for healthy pregnancies and breastfeeding. The vouchers supplement the midwife care that UNFPA also provides at the safe spaces. UNFPA mobile clinics and midwives have led to a 40 percent increase in the number of prenatal care visits and deliveries taking place in health facilities in the camps. Both of these measures help prevent maternal death and ensure that all mothers, regardless of their situation, can have a safe birth.
YOU can be the difference between life and death for a Rohinga mother and child today!
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