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Programme Priorities |
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| Reproductive Health in Emergency Situations | |
| Reproductive Health, including Family Planning and Sexual Health
Population and Development
Strategies
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A November technical meeting on "Reproductive Health in Crisis Situations" reported that women and girls suffered the most in crisis situations because of social inequity. The UNFPA-supported meeting, held in Rennes, France, found that the breakdown of the social structure of communities often leads to widespread sexual violence, and, in several recent conflicts, rape has been used as an instrument of terror. Since ICPD, UNFPA has helped refugees and displaced people in 33 countries, spending a total of $6.4 million on 52 projects executed by 24 partner agencies. UNFPA has cooperated with a number of other agencies to provide reproductive health services to refugees and displaced persons. These include the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), WHO, UNICEF, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and CARE (Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere), among others. Concluding that reproductive health should be made an integral part of general health care in all situations, the meeting called for increased funding and greater human resources to provide reproductive health care to people displaced by war and natural disasters. UNFPA also pointed out the need to have more reliable data on such refugees and their needs. Country-level initiatives. During the year UNFPA efforts provided emergency reproductive health kits to the victims of Hurricane Mitch in Central America. Given the extensive devastation caused by the natural disaster, UNFPA's Nicaragua field office assigned maximum priority to rehabilitation efforts that fell within its mandate. Participating in an inter-agency emergency project, the Fund helped meet the urgent sexual and reproductive health needs of women and adolescent girls in the 25 most-affected municipalities in the northern provinces. In the United Republic of Tanzania, UNFPA supported a project for refugees and communities in the western parts of the country that were affected by war in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. An evaluation exercise confirmed that UNFPA-supported projects were responding to the needs of the refugees, especially in terms of referral and emergency obstetric care and in the provision of equipment and training. The evaluation noted a dramatic improvement in the quality of services and a corresponding reduction in maternal deaths as a result of UNFPA's efforts. However, a three-day monitoring visit found that IEC materials in the refugee camps were inadequate, mostly because of language problems; arrangements were made with the UNFPA office in Rwanda to supply materials in French and Kirundi. In Rwanda itself, UNFPA carried out an evaluation of the reproductive health needs in the camps established for internally displaced persons. The Fund also supported the provision of equipment and supplies to those camps. UNFPA provided emergency assistance in several other situations. For example, in Papua New Guinea, the Fund provided medical supplies and clean delivery kits in response to the tidal wave disaster in Aitape. The assistance both met the immediate needs of the disaster and replenished supplies and equipment in health centres. UNFPA also provided assistance to Indonesia, where an economic crisis had caused urgent gaps in reproductive health care. The Fund approved a project to help meet the country's immediate contraceptive needs and helped launch a global appeal to overcome the contraceptive shortfall envisioned for the coming two years. UNFPA also procured emergency medical supplies and provided emergency assistance to meet the urgent needs of flood-stricken counties in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. |