UNITED NATIONS, New York — UNFPA launched its annual humanitarian report today, revealing a critical need to scale up assistance for crisis-affected populations. The organization is appealing for $835 million to reach 54.5 million women, girls and young people in 61 countries with life-saving sexual and reproductive health services in 2022.
For the third year in a row, humanitarian funding needs are greatest in Yemen, where some $100 million is required for urgent support. Reproductive health services have been critically undermined by conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic; the most recent estimates hold that every two hours, a woman in Yemen dies in childbirth, and more than a million pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished.
Dr. Samar, in the district of Jiah, sees women in life-threatening danger far too often, he said.
Not long ago, a woman named Safiya was carried by her husband to Dr. Samar’s clinic; she was in shock from an ectopic pregnancy.
«I told Safiya’s husband about the need for an urgent surgical intervention to save her life,» Dr. Samar recounted. «His eyes were filled with tears, devastated…. [he said] ‘I don’t have the money to hire a car to get to the hospital.»