UNFPA’s Senior Regional Coordinator Oksana Andrushkiv (left) reviews an inventory of emergency reproductive health supplies stored at a warehouse in Lviv for further distribution to health centres in war-affected areas. © Halyna Balabanova
24 March 2022 - More than 13 metric tons of desperately needed reproductive health supplies, medicines and equipment have been shipped to Ukraine by UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, as stocks at health facilities run dangerously low one month after the Russian invasion.
The supplies, which include lifesaving medicines for the management of obstetric emergencies and treatment for the clinical management of rape, will support service providers at health centres in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia. They are sufficient to cover the immediate reproductive health needs of a population of 500,000 people.
The war in Ukraine has resulted in the destruction of civilian infrastructure, including health care facilities, denying access to essential health services for hundreds of thousands of people, including pregnant women, and forcing people to flee for their lives.
“Women’s right to give birth safely and to live free from violence cannot be put aside in times of war,” said Jaime Nadal Roig, UNFPA Representative in Ukraine. “Our immediate priority is to respond to their specific and most immediate needs and protect their health, rights and dignity.”
At the start of the war, there were an estimated 256,000 pregnant women in Ukraine with 80,000 expected to give birth in the next three months. While the situation remains volatile, UNFPA is working with its teams on the ground to find solutions for access and scale up the delivery of life-saving reproductive health and protection services in conflict-affected areas.
Three fully stocked and staffed mobile clinics, including one maternity clinic, have also been dispatched to Ukraine to support safe births, access to voluntary contraception, and specialized services for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, including post-rape treatment.
“In all humanitarian crises, women do not stop giving birth, getting pregnant, or menstruating and they face increased risk of gender-based violence, particularly those who have been displaced from their homes,” said UNFPA Representative Nadal. “These supplies will provide much needed support to health workers and women.”
An additional batch of supplies, including hygiene items and sanitary pads, will be dispatched to partners for distribution to women and girls.
UNFPA is working around the clock to reach women and girls as humanitarian needs increase by the hour, and as soon as access and the security situation permits, will expand its operations to the hardest-hit areas.
For more information, please contact:
In New York: Eddie Wright, ewright@unfpa.org; +1 917 831 2074
In Istanbul: Jens-Hagen Eschenbaecher, eschenbaecher@unfpa.org, +90 549 748 36 55
About UNFPA:
UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. UNFPA's mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA calls for the realization of reproductive rights for all and supports access to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services, including voluntary family planning, quality maternal health care and comprehensive sexuality education.
