TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
UNFPA provides women's services in quake-hit Nepal
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says it is providing a wide range of services for women and girls in Nepal following the devastating earthquake on April 25
Change Size
T
he United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says it is providing a wide range of services for women and girls in Nepal following the devastating earthquake on April 25.
Services range from creating women-friendly spaces to providing vital reproductive health services that include safe childbirth in a clean environment, access to contraceptives, medicine and other supplies, the UN body said.
The Dignity Kits packages will be distributed under the Dignity First campaign jointly managed by UNFPA, Nepal's Women, Children and Social Welfare Ministry and UNFPA Nepal Goodwill Ambassador Manisha Koirala.
UNFPA is working with a number of implementing partners, including government agencies and civil society organizations, including youth groups, to ensure that its services reach beneficiaries across the hardest-hit districts, including some of most remote areas in Nepal.
UNFPA says some 1.4 million women of reproductive age have been impacted by the earthquake across the 14 most affected districts, which are currently being prioritized by UN agencies in agreement with the Nepalese government.
'Of these women, an estimated 93,000 are pregnant, of whom 10,300 are expected to deliver each month. Over 1,500 women may experience pregnancy-related complications requiring C-sections,' the UN said in a press release.
The body added that 28,000 women may be at risk of gender-based violence in the most affected areas.
"The challenges in responding to the earthquake are huge," UNFPA's representative in Nepal, Giulia Vallese, said.
Vallese said women and girls needed support to cope with logistical challenges to accessing services, especially as the monsoon season was fast approaching.
'There is a need to raise sufficient funds and other resources from donors to ensure we can sustain our response well into the future,' said the UNFPA representative.
'UNFPA Nepal and its partners are here for the long haul. Our work ultimately is guided, above all, by the simple, yet profound principle: Dignity First."
"Dignity First" is a campaign that captures the essence of the life-saving work needed to support pregnant women, new mothers and their infants, and girls affected by the Nepal earthquake ahead of the one-month commemoration of the April 25 earthquake. (ebf)
