The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has provided more than 10,000 women and girls of childbearing age in Madagascar with sexual and reproductive health, family planning and gender based-violence (GBV) services.
Development Diaries gathered that the women and girls needed the humanitarian support after they were displaced by floods in Antananarivo, the country’s capital.
Cyclone Ana came with heavy rainfall, causing floods and landslides resulting in casualties and widespread damage in Madagascar, Zimbabwe, and Malawi.
Report from the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) shows that cyclone Ana has affected 62,000 people in Madagascar.
Sexual and reproductive health, family planning and GBV services are essential aspects of good health for women and girls. Its importance is heightened in times of huge humanitarian disasters.
The UNFPA’s move is in line with number three of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
‘Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’, the SDG three reads.
Data from UNFPA shows that Madagascar contends with a high maternal death rate and a large unmet need for family planning with thousands of women suffering from birth injuries like obstetric fistula.
Additional data from a 2018 study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that only 45 percent of adolescent girls (aged 15–19) received antenatal care.
‘Our entire neighborhood is flooded [and] I can no longer go to health centre for my last pre-natal consultation’, 26-year-old Patricia told UNFPA.
The UN programme said it had to deploy four mobile clinics in order to reach the women and extend free integrated sexual and reproductive health services at shelter sites.
‘Fortunately, there is this service at the temporary shelter site so I can do my consultation here [and] feel safe about my delivery despite the situation’, Patricia said.
With the floods, health centres in Madagascar appear overwhelmed. Mobile clinics, like the ones being employed by the UNFPA, are a great way to fill in the gap.
Photo source: UNFPA
