Help Rohingya Refugees Become New Moms Safely

In Bangladesh's Rohingya refugee camps, women and girls often face barriers to accessing lifesaving sexual and reproductive health care. From high rates of child marriage and maternal death to the limited availability of midwives and clinics, women and girls' lives are at risk. 

Just $15 provides three women with emergency birth kits, so they can prevent infections during childbirth, even if a health care worker is unavailable. 

To help meet these demands, UNFPA operates shanti khana, or women-friendly safe spaces, in the camps. These safe spaces connect wome and girls with prenatal and safe delivery care, family planning, mental health counseling, education and skills training courses, and an opportunity to build community through henna making, dancing, and painting. Women and girls also receive dignity kits at the safe spaces. Dignity kits provide everything a woman or girls needs to manage her period, even in a refugee camp. 

These resources are crucial for empowering women and girls' to participate in their communities and to advocate for their health and rights. 

You can fund a midwife in a community for $100 a month. 

UNFPA operates 32 shanti khana throughout Bangladesh's Roghinya refugee camps and in the host communities. Each safe space supports thousands of women and girls in reaching their fullest potential and helps women and girls access the lifesaving sexual and reproductive health care they need.

When women and girls have the power to make decisions for their health, lives, and futures, our world is a better place. 

Thank you for your ongoing support of this lifesaving work. A donation of $45 provides three women and girls with dignity kits, allowing them to manage their periods, even while living in a refugee camp. 

It has been four years since the Rohingya ethnic group have fled persecution in Myanmar for safety in Bangladesh. Today, more than 800,000 Rohingya refugees call the camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh home. 

With your support, UNFPA has been providing care in the camps to Rohingya women and girls who face challenges like high rates of child marriage, a lack of menstrual products, and limited safe spaces for women. One way that UNFPA has addressed these challenges was by building 28 women-friendly safe spaces.

$100 funds a community midwife in a clinic or safe space for one week. 

These safe spaces are critical because many Rohingya women and girls have experienced gender-based violence, including rape and child marriage. The safe spaces are a place for them to receive mental health care, build community, and process their trauma. At the safe spaces, women and girls can also receive sexual and reproductive health care like prenatal checkups and family planning. 

Hamida was 27 when she found safety in Bangladesh's refugee camps. That was also when she began attending a safe space and learned about issues like safe motherhood, healthy relationships, and human trafficking. 

You can provide three women with all the supplies they need to give birth safely during a crisis for $15. 

Now, Hamida is a community educator and mentor at the safe spaces. She says, “Through my efforts to help other women and girls in the camps, I have gained the respect of my community, family members, and husband. At first, no one listened to me. However gradually, they started to embrace me as they understood that information gives them choices and opportunities,"

Because of your support for Hamida's work and the work of others at UNFPA safe spaces, Rohingya women and girls now have access to the lifesaving care they need. 

Thank you for your ongoing support of Rohingya refugees. Your gift of $150 provides one clinic with the supplies, medications, and equipment necessary to safely manage obstetric emergencies. 

It was love at first sight for Mohammed and Kawser, two Rohingya refugees. At first, though, Mohammed was nervous. He thought, "She was too pretty for me, and I was not sure if I could handle her beauty.” But now, the two are married. 

They live with Mohammed's family and have recently had their first child together. Luckily, Kawser's pregnancy went well, despite the sometimes unideal conditions of the refugee camp where she lives. 

Just $15 provides three women like Kawser with an emergency birth kit, which provides them with the tools they need to safely give birth, even if a doctor is not available.

UNFPA has championed a program for young mothers like Kawser, where they learn the warning signs of dangerous pregnancy and childbirth complications. The mothers also receive prenatal care and learn how to navigate new motherhood, advocate for themselves in their in-laws' households, and how to access family planning. 

For $25 you can provide a woman with the supplies she needs to care for herself and her baby for six months after birth.

Kawser's mother-in-law has seen a massive difference between her experience with motherhood and her daughter-in-law's. She said, “She delivered in a health facility, and I am helping her in cooking and fetching water. In Myanmar, I delivered at home and bore the birth of four children without anyone close to me. I am confident that families have power. We are all together in this."

UNFPA's work creating strong support networks in Rohingya refugee camps is critical for reaching women and girls with lifesaving sexual and reproductive health care. Over half of all births in Bangladesh, including Kawser's, take place in a health facility. This makes childbirth dramatically safer for both mom and baby.

Today, Kawser and Mohammed are busy raising their newborn. They are using family planning and have decided to wait 3 years before having their next child. 

With your help, Kawser was able to survive pregnancy and begin raising her baby safely. . Your $100 gift to UNFPA supports one midwife in a community like Kawser's for an entire month. 

Rasheda is only 25 but she is already a mother to six children. She lost her fifth child during childbrith. When she talked to UNFPA about it, she said, "It was a traumatic experience and I do not want it to ever happen again. My mind is still haunted by it.”

Just $15 provides three women like Rasheda with an emergency birth kit, which provides them with the tools they need to safely give birth, even if a doctor is not available.

UNFPA has been operating sexual and reproductive health clinics in Rohingya refugee camps since the crisis began. But with the fear and uncertainty of COVID-19, many women stopped going to the clinics. 

Midwives were worried that more women were giving birth at home. If complications arise, the likelihood that the mother or her baby may suffer an injury or death is far higher. 

For $25 you can provide a woman with the supplies she needs to care for herself and her baby for six months after birth.

UNFPA began a community transport system where women in labor could call to receive transportation to a UNFPA health facility. Rasheda used the system to give birth to her sixth child. Now, she uses it to attend family planning appointments. 

However, even though family planning is available, many women have been unable to receive care because their husbands oppose birth control. Rasheda was able to convince her husband that her body needed a break between pregnancies. She said, "To me this decision is not a matter of cultural beliefs, but of my health and choice."

With UNFPA's help Rasheda was able to take her life and her health into her own hands. Your $100 gift to UNFPA supports one midwife in a community like Rasheda's for an entire month. 

It's been three years since hundreds of thousands of Rohingya migrated from their home in Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh. Today, there is still no end in sight for the nearly 1 million refugees. 

Almost all Rohingya refugees live in the Cox's Bazar camps, where crowding and limited resources have left them vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus has been particularly frightening for vulnerable populations, including the elderly, pregnant women, and women with disabilities, many of whom require special medical care.

For $150, you can provide supplies, medications and equipment to health clinics that help safely manage obstetric emergencies. 

Due to the pandemic, aid organizations like UNFPA have had to limit their activities in the refugee camps. Vulnerable populations, like pregnant women, have been less able to receive the care they need, like prenatal and safe delivery care. 

Thankfully, despite these obstacles, UNFPA has been able to maintain reproductive health services. Support systems for Rohingya refugees include 23 women-friendly spaces, 22 health facilities, 10 women-led community centres, 144 midwives, 594 community health workers, and 224 volunteers.

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! 

Minara, one Rohingya refugee, has asscessed UNFPA's family planning services since she arrived in the camps three years ago. When she decided to have a baby, UNFPA midwife Rotna counseled her through prenatal appointments, safe deliery, and now provides care to Minara and her baby.

Midwives save lives. And it only takes $100 to fund a midwife for a single week. 

Links:

• Friends of UNFPA: Rohingya Crisis
• The Rohingya Update: Three Years On