Help Pregnant Moms Give Birth Safely in Disasters

Aisha was 8-months pregnant when she was shot in her abdomen while fleeing violence in Syria.

For three days, Aisha walked through the desert wounded, without feeling any fetal movement. She had already lost two children to violence in Syria and couldn't bear to lose her unborn child. When she arrived at a refugee camp in Jordan, a UNFPA doctor quickly gave her an ultrasound.

They discovered that Aisha's baby was miraculously unhurt!

She was transferred to a UNFPA maternity clinic where she recovered from her gunshot wound and awaited her delivery, knowing care was there when she needed it. 

Even in crises, women do not stop becoming pregnant, giving birth, or needing care. UNFPA is there for them. 

UNFPA provides life-saving supplies to ensure clean deliveries and offers skilled midwifery care, so that mothers like Aisha and their newborns can have the safe birth that is their right. 

You can help support UNFPA trained midwives continue their lifesaving work by donating today!

UNFPA’s work in Jordan has made it possible for over 10,000 babies to be born in the Za’atari Camp for Syrian refugees with ZERO maternal deaths. 

UNFPA's clean birthing kits can make the difference between life and death for a pregnant woman and her baby. 

For as little as $15 you can help deliver 3 emergency clean birthing kits into the hands of pregnant mothers and health care workers in crisis situations. The kits include a bar of soap, clear plastic sheet, razor blade, cloth and latex gloves. 

Thank you for standing with refugees -and moms- like Aisha. 

Links:

• Help Provide Safe Birth Even in Disaster

In Mozambique, Tina was nine-months pregnant when her home began to flood from Cyclone Idai. She and her four children ran through the storm to safety in a nearby school. Soon after, Tina felt contractions begin and knew that she was going into labor. 

The winds and flooding from the cyclone made it impossible for an ambulance to reach her at the school. Instead, a motorcycle taxi rushed her through the floodwaters to the Matundo Health Center, where she safely delivered her baby girl, Joana. 

At Matundo, Tina received a dignity kit from UNFPA to help her care for herself and for her baby. Dignity kits contain items like clean underwear, soap, laundry detergent, a safety whistle, and a flashlight.  

For only $15, you can empower one woman with a dignity kit, helping her feel clean and in control, even in times of crisis. 

Cyclone Idai struck Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe in March 2019. The storm lasted just over two weeks, but the devastation will take much longer to recover from—torrential rains have caused intense flooding, infrastructure has been damaged beyond recognition. Fields, the main source of income for these agricultural communities, have been destroyed, and over 2 million people have been displaced or otherwise impacted.  

Women have been hit especially hard by Cyclone Idai and face unique obstacles in the aftermath of the storm. Nearly 500,000 women have been affected, including 75,000 pregnant women who have been left without access to reproductive healthcare.  

One in ten of those women could face life-threatening complications for themselves and their babies.  

UNFPA is supporting nineteen mobile clinics in hard-to-reach areas of Mozambique. These clinics have enough health kits to reach more than 300,000 people.  

$50 makes it possible for UNFPA to give ten women clean delivery kits. These kits have a plastic sheet, gloves, a razor, and a blanket to prevent infection during childbirth.  

Tina says, “It would be good if these were made available not only in times of crisis but in good times as well. Being clean and taking care of oneself is important for women and even more so for a newborn baby.” 

You can empower women. You can make the world safer for mothers and babies. You can help UNFPA change a life.

Links:

• Help pregnant women struck by Cyclone Idai

Lena was in the final days of her pregnancy when violence struck her community in rural Kenya. Cattle rustlers attacked her village, setting her home on fire. 

“The only thing I managed to grab before dashing out of the hut was my bag, which had my personal items,” said Lena.  

The contents of that bag, which were supplied by UNFPA, ended up saving Lena’s life. 

Around the world, UNFPA provides women like Lena with clean delivery kits, which contain all the essential items for a safe delivery.  

The kits contain essential items necessary for a safe birth, including sterile gloves, a blanket, a plastic sheet, and soap. For only $11 you can help UNFPA provide three emergency clean delivery kits to women without access to maternal health services. 

Lena was separated from her family and had to hide in the bushes. “I was alone and afraid,” she said. And while she was hiding, she went into labor. 

“I remember crying at the top of my voice,” she said. “I was sure I was going to die, unless I got help.” 

Thankfully, a neighbor heard Lena’s cries for help. Because of UNFPA’s clean delivery kit, the neighbor was able to help her give birth safely. 

A donation of only $25 can provide one woman in a humanitarian or rural setting with a dignity kit that offers flashlights and hygiene essentials, ensuring that she can maintain her dignity, health, and security in emergency situations.  

In Kenya alone, UNFPA is hard at work ensuring that every woman can give birth safely. Within the last year, UNFPA provided 22,000 women in the country with lifesaving reproductive health services. 

But there is so much more work to be done. With 830 women dying every day from unsafe pregnancy and childbirth, more than 500 of those deaths occur in emergency situations like Lena’s. 

Can you make a donation today and help support UNFPA’s work making every child birth safe? 

Links:

• Friends of UNFPA

Phu Tu Nee is 19 years old and pregnant in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. She is one of the estimated 300,000 “forgotten” Rohingya who remain confined to camps and villages in Myanmar. The Rohingya are subject to violence, religious persecution, and ethnic genocide. In turn, over 700,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh. However, restrictions prohibit Phu Tu Nee from leaving her home country; as a result, she has limited access to primary health care since her camp lacks professionally trained midwives and health facilities.   

Thankfully, UNFPA services such as mobile clinics are available. As a result, Phu Tu Nee was able to receive weekly prenatal care throughout her pregnancy at a UNFPA-supported mobile health clinic.  

On the eve of her birth, a tropical storm hit Myanmar. Nevertheless, Phu Tu Nee delivered her first baby with ease, since she was given a UNFPA clean delivery kit that ensured a safer delivery.  

UNFPA’s clean delivery kits contain essential items necessary for a safe birth, including sterile gloves, a blanket, a plastic sheet, and soap. For only $11 you can help UNFPA provide three emergency clean delivery kits to women without access to maternal health services.  

 UNFPA has distributed 4,200 clean delivery kits to pregnant women in conflict-and crisis-affected areas in Myanmar.   

 The day after Phu Tu Nee gave birth the weather cleared, and she was able to rest with her newborn baby. In the aftermath of her birth, all her concerns and questions were answered by UNFPA health volunteers, who provided her with advice and information on post-partum care. On a day-to-day basis, these volunteers check on community members to make sure they are utilizing all UNFPA resources.   

 None of this would have been possible without the work of UNFPA.   

 UNFPA also offers Dignity Kits, which contain vital items such as menstrual pads, bath soap, underwear, and other necessities to uphold the health and dignity of women and girls.  

 A donation of only $25 can provide one woman in a humanitarian setting such as the Rohingya refugee crisis with a dignity kit that offers flashlights and hygiene essentials, ensuring that she can maintain her dignity, health, and security in emergency situations. 

Links:

• Friends of UNFPA
• Safe Birth Even Here

“So often we don’t think of pregnant women in crises. We somehow think life freezes. But [Rohingya] women were pregnant before they fled Myanmar, women get pregnant by their husbands and by men who rape them. Childbirth stops for nothing” – Ashley Judd, Actress and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador.

Over the last six months, more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh. Cox’s Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh hosts the majority of these refugees. Earlier this year, actress and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador Ashley Judd visited Cox’s Bazar and met with many of the women living there. At that time, 34,000 of the newly arrived refugees were pregnant.

In her diaries, she writes about her visits to UNFPA-supported women friendly spaces and clinics that support maternal care. In one camp, the midwives have screened more than 170,000 women since August of last year—both refugees and women from the host communities—for pregnancy and medical needs.

With monsoon rains unleashing floods and landslides in Bangladesh, UNFPA and partner agencies are urgently working to secure Rohingya refugee camps and settlements in Cox’s Bazar district. Over 29,000 people have already been affected by the rains. Dozens have been injured, and at least one person has been killed.

“The safety of the Rohingya refugees during this monsoon season is priority one,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after visiting refugee services, including UNFPA facilities, amid a downpour.

“As many as 200,000 need to be relocated. We cannot allow the monsoons to wash away the hopes of the Rohingya refugees I met today.”

As the rains intensify, UNFPA is working with partners mitigate monsoon-related risks and to reinforce health centers and safe spaces. 

At the Balukhali health center, the wait for maternal care is jaw-dropping. It splits in three directions.

Among the total and growing refugee population, some 40,000 women have received prenatal care and more than 1,500 babies have been born at UNFPA-supported facilities.

But still, 78% of refugee births take place outside of any health facility. To help, UNFPA has distributed over 12,000 clean delivery kits, encouraging mother to take them to any health facility when labor begins.  During the recent rains, UNFPA’s health facilities and women-friendly spaces saw a decline of more than 60 percent in service use.

UNFPA’s clean delivery kits contains the basic items necessary for a safe birth, including a sanitary mat for child birth, sterile gloves, a bar of soap, a razor, a clamp for the umbilical cord and a suction bulb to clear the newborn’s airway.

As Ashley Judd explains to CNN, “it literally makes the difference between life and death for both mother and newborn.”

For only $15 you can help UNFPA provide 3 emergency clean delivery kits to women without access to maternal health services.