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Add to Preferred SourcesMore than 168 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance around the world.
“In 2020, lamentably, the world will face an unprecedented moment: 1 out of every 45 people will be affected by humanitarian crises. The stakes of inaction have never been so dire,” said UNFPA’s Executive Director, Dr. Natalia Kanem, in the organization’s Humanitarian Action Overview.
There are tens of millions of women and adolescent girls living through humanitarian crises today. Yet their reproductive health needs – including family planning information and care, maternal health care, access to menstrual hygiene supplies, as well as protection from, and treatment for, sexual and gender-based violence – are often overlooked.
And when these needs are neglected, the consequences are simply unbearable.
More than half of all the world’s maternal deaths take place in countries affected by crises and fragile conditions. Vulnerability to gender-based violence spikes in crisis settings, with risks ranging from domestic violence to rape as a weapon of war.
UNFPA works with partners around the world to address these needs. In 2020, UNFPA plans to reach an estimated 48 million women, girls and young people, including 4 million pregnant women, in 57 countries. The cost of this will be an estimated $683 million.
Yemen tops the list of countries with the greatest financial requirements for humanitarian assistance, with $100.5 million needed to meet the needs of women and girls.
The crisis in Yemen has continued for years without respite, leaving 80 percent of the population in need of humanitarian support. As recently as last week, hostilities saw an escalation in Marib, Sana’a and Al Jawf, resulting in more than 9,400 new displacements. UNFPA responded with reproductive health clinics, able to support both natural and Caesarean deliveries, as well as deployment of medical teams and reproductive health supplies.
But underfunding of UNFPA’s humanitarian response in Yemen has threatened the agency’s ability to provide such life-saving support in recent years.
Read and download the Humanitarian Action 2020 Overview.
Original source: UNFPA
Published on 06 February 2020