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Connecting mothers-to-be with health clinics in rural Zambia
Zambia
LUKULU DISTRICT, Zambia – Olivia Kaunda, 34, just moved to a shelter in the Luvuzi Rural Health Centre in Western Zambia. Eight months pregnant, this is the place she will call home for the next few weeks, as she…
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Midwives could cut maternal, newborn deaths by two thirds, says new State of the World’s Midwifery
Uganda
UNITED NATIONS, New York – When trained and supported by a functional health system, midwives could provide 87 per cent of the essential care needed for women and newborns, and could potentially reduce maternal and…
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Somali midwifery school helps tackle harsh conditions for women
Somalia
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia is one of the worst places in the world to be a woman, especially a pregnant woman. According to recent statistics, one in 18 Somali women die from complications of pregnancy or childbirth…
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Myanmar’s “red angel” midwives prepare to bring care to displaced women in Rakhine
Myanmar
YANGON, Myanmar – Twenty-three-year-old Ma Thae Ei Phyu is one of five “red angel” midwives to participate in a recent UNFPA-supported intensive training programme at a maternity ward on the outskirts of the Myanmar…
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In Nigeria, fight against fistula points to problem of early marriage
Nigeria
ABUJA, Nigeria – Since her marriage at age 14, Zuera Mustapha, now 21, has experienced two stillbirths and a recurrent obstetric fistula. Yet even with these hardships, she has been luckier than some; her mother and…
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In Nepal, fight against obstetric fistula marches on
Nepal
DHARAN, Nepal – Dhani Devi Mukhiya remembers the days when her relatives shunned her in public and her husband threatened to bring home another wife. For some of the villagers in her community in Nepal, the obstetric…
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A new lease on life for women living with obstetric fistula in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan – “I was 15 years old when I got married, and my husband was 22. My sister-in-law saw me at one of my relative’s wedding and made all the arrangements for her brother to have me,” Sharifa recalls.…
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Holding out a hand: Youth-to-youth initiative making a difference in Mongolia
Mongolia
ZAVKHAN PROVINCE, Mongolia – “Y-Peer saved my life. For that, I am so thankful,” says Oyuka, recalling a time when she contemplated suicide. That was before Enkhbat, an educator with the youth peer education programme Y…
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In South Sudan, 200,000 pregnant women may need urgent care
South Sudan
UNITED NATIONS, New York – Amid escalating conflict, some 30,000 women in South Sudan are at risk of dying in childbirth, according to estimates by UNFPA, and 200,000 pregnant women will be in need of urgent care before…
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Côte d’Ivoire rolls out campaign to reduce adolescent pregnancies
Côte d'Ivoire
ABIDJAN, Côte d'Ivoire – Faced with alarming numbers of adolescent pregnancies, the Government of Côte d'Ivoire, with support from UNFPA, the United Nations Fund for Population, launched a national campaign to…
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‘Lost Children’ Reveal Need to Support Families – and Women
Uganda
UNITED NATIONS, New York – Gladys Kalibbala, a journalist in Uganda, knows what loss looks like. She has seen it hundreds of times, in the faces of children without homes and in the desperation of mothers searching for…
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Tailoring Services to Nigeria’s Young People
Nigeria
ABUJA, Nigeria – Twenty-three per cent of Nigerian youth between ages 15 and 19 have already begun to have children, according to the country’s 2008 Demographic and Health Survey. But sexual and reproductive health…
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