The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is the sole provider of reproductive health medicines and supplies in Yemen but with the spread of the Covid-19 across the country, funds have been taken away from services for women and girls.
UNFPA has been forced to stop the provision of reproductive healthcare in 140 out of the 180 health facilities leaving about 320, 000 pregnant women without care. Without funding, 90% of reproductive services could be closed by July and UNFPA estimates that 48,000 women could die due to this lack of sexual and reproductive health services. Nestor Owomuhangi, deputy representative of the UNFPA in Yemen, speaking about the cuts to maternity services, stated “where you have no specialized care to at least check the dangerous signs of pregnancies, that’s our worry”.
Natalia Kanem, head of the UNFPA, on the virtual pledging conference that took place on 2 June, urged international donors to give more to fund the agency operations, saying that Yemeni women cannot afford to wait. “If lifesaving reproductive health services are stopped it will have catastrophic consequences for women and girls in Yemen”, she affirmed.
In early May UNFPA had already released data saying that if the Covid-19 pandemic had prolonged, the number of women unable to access family planning, facing unintended pregnancies, gender-based violence and other harmful practices could have massively increased. Strict gender roles imply that women bear the burden of caring for sick within families and communities and have also less access to financial resources and decision-making, this means that they may be less able to seek health services if they fall ill.
The 2 June virtual High-Level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen brought together representatives of more than 125 Member States and International organizations, United Nations agencies, non- governmental organizations and civil society to raise funding to meet the humanitarian needs of people affected by the conflict. The Humanitarian Response Plan June- December 2020, that resulted from the Conference, pledged US$ 1.35 billion. It estimated that if conditions permit: 2, 127, 600 of the 3, 546, 000 women of childbearing age in need of comprehensive obstetric care will benefit from support and 472,800 of the 788,000 pregnant women in need of skilled attendants will benefit from support. Instead, if constraints persist the women supported will be 1, 418, 400 e 315, 200 respectively.
To read more, please visit:
https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/05/1065122
https://www.unfpa.org/news/covid-19-strikes-yemen-humanitarian-funding-dries
Author: Leyla El Matouni
