UN Population Fund calls for urgent money for Yemeni women

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) on Wednesday called for 59 million U.S. dollars to urgently protect the health and safety of women and girls in Yemen, where one woman dies every two hours giving birth.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) on Wednesday called for 59 million U.S. dollars to urgently protect the health and safety of women and girls in Yemen, where one woman dies every two hours giving birth.

More than 48,000 women could die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth in Yemen due to severe funding shortages and the possible closure of reproductive health facilities, amidst rising risks posed by COVID-19, said the UNFPA in a press release.

To save lives, the UNFPA is calling for urgent funding of 59 million dollars to provide life-saving reproductive health care and women’s protection services until the end of 2020. An additional 24 million dollars is needed for the COVID-19 response to protect health workers and women and girls accessing reproductive health services in the conflict-affected country, it said.

As it stands now, nearly half of all health facilities in Yemen are not functioning or only partially functioning. Only 20 percent of health facilities provide maternal and child health services due to staff shortages, lack of supplies, inability to meet operational costs, or damage due to the conflict. Equipment and medical supplies are inadequate or obsolete. Health workers have not been paid, or have only been irregularly paid, in more than two years, said the UNFPA.

If the COVID-19 pandemic is prolonged, the number of women unable to access family planning, facing unintended pregnancies, gender-based violence and other harmful practices could skyrocket by millions of cases in the months ahead, it warned.

A severe funding shortage will force the UNFPA to halt the provision of life-saving reproductive health services in 140 health facilities in Yemen. If these facilities close, an estimated 320,000 pregnant women will be cut off from reproductive health services and more than 48,000 women could die of emergency obstetric complications, it said.