By Natalia Sanchez | Friends of UNFPA
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.
Links:
By Friends of UNFPA | UNFPA
By Friends of UNFPA | Communications Team
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