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In The Gambia, communities and faith leaders band together to protect girls from child marriage
JARRA SOMA, The Gambia – Fatou Bah was still a schoolgirl when the future she imagined for herself began to slip away.
She was in Grade 7, around 13 years old, in the town of Jarra Soma, The Gambia’s Lower River…
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Women give birth by the roadside as hostilities escalate in Yemen
Yemen
TA’IZ GOVERNORATE, Yemen – “We saw bombs and drones falling near us – we were terrified. We couldn’t sleep, and we couldn’t stay inside the house,” said Aziza Marzouk, a mother of four currently displaced from Al Mokha…
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Everyone counts: Uzbekistan uses new tech and grassroots outreach in first census since its independence
Uzbekistan
UZBEKISTAN – “I’ve lived in Gelon all my life, and seen how our village has grown and changed over the years,” said Sharofiddin Xaknazarov. “Our village is far in the mountains, but we are part of Uzbekistan like…
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Pregnancy, poverty and the weight of hunger for child brides in Yemen
ABYAN/AL HUDAYDAH GOVERNORATES, Yemen – Fatimah* was forced to marry an older man when she was just 13 years old. Two years later, she gave birth to twin daughters.
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“We don't have to endure everything”: Motherhood, vulnerability, and the racism that runs through childbirth
BRASILIA, Brazil – “Black women are the majority of women living in precarious conditions in our country,” said Isabela Cristina Correia de Lima Lima, a Brazilian singer-songwriter, known professionally as IZA. “And of…
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Humanitarians under fire: In Lebanon, Batoul’s family remember “the joy of our home”
Lebanon
BEKAA VALLEY, Lebanon – “Batoul was the joy of our home,” said Hashem Qallaji, in the Bekaa valley in Lebanon. “She was the laughter. When you sat and talked with her, it was as if she breathed life back into your soul.”
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“Youth are the future”: Removing the barriers to success for young people in the Maldives
Maldives
MALÉ, Maldives – “What worries me about the future is that everything is becoming less and less affordable,” said Aishath Shaima Shihab, 20, from the Maldives. “Rent is rising and the cost of food and hygiene products…
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“She has given us a sense of security”: The humanitarian midwives deployed to Sudan’s Blue Nile State
Sudan
BLUE NILE STATE, Sudan – “Some women gave birth on the road,” said Sa’aida, a midwife from Bot, in Sudan’s Blue Nile State. “We provided emergency assistance and whatever support was needed. If there hadn't been…
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Leaving no one behind: Strengthening gender-based violence services for LGBTIQ+ survivors
Kenya, Zimbabwe
UNITED NATIONS, Nairobi/HARARE, Zimbabwe – “Every human being deserves to be heard [in order] to start healing when they face any form of violence,” said Thulisiwe*, who works with a mobile gender-based violence…
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“We fled with nothing but the clothes on our backs”: Bangladesh grapples with severe flood emergency
BANDARBAN DISTRICT, Bangladesh – “When the floodwater entered our home, we were stranded for two days. We couldn't hold on any longer, so we came to this shelter by boat,” explained Laila Begum, a 23-year-old…
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“I consider it a miracle”: The pregnant woman pulled from the rubble of Venezuela’s deadly earthquakes
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela – “I saw the building collapse, floor by floor. You could hear people screaming and calling for help,” said Roberto Rodríguez, 24, who survived two catastrophic earthquakes of magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5…
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New data show barriers to partnering and parenting: A “baby bust” myth-buster
UNITED NATIONS, New York – Societies are “heading towards a demographic cliff”, according to some headlines. The “global baby bust” is the result of a “feminist revolt”, others speculate. Behind the hyperbole is a…
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