Access to family planning — including sex education, safe contraception and live-saving maternal medicines — transforms and protects women’s lives. But for millions of women around the world this basic access remains out of reach. This situation is unacceptable, and entirely unnecessary.
Conflict, displacement, poverty and inadequate health services are all factors that can cut off a women’s access to safe family planning and maternal care. That’s why UNFPA Supplies exists — to provide women in conflict zones and 46 of the world’s most fragile countries with the support they need to plan their futures in safety. But UNFPA Supplies cannot continue its work without global support.
Khadeeja was forced to flee her home in Syria whilst pregnant, and walked for days and nights with little food or water. Eventually she arrived at a refugee camp, where she was able to receive care at the new UNFPA-supported health facility. For Khadeeja and many others, UNFPA Supplies is the only resource protecting women’s sexual and reproductive health on the front line.
This November world leaders will meet to discuss women’s access to their sexual and reproductive rights in Nairobi, and it’s up to us to make sure they commit to supporting the work of UNFPA Supplies. Help us do so! Test your knowledge on why having a child is still a life or death issue for millions of women.