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COVID-19 affects Ukraine health systems already compromised by conflict
Ukraine
As the number of COVID-19 cases nears 1,500 in Ukraine, UNFPA is urgently distributing medical kits containing disinfectant and personal protective equipment.
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Gender-based violence spikes amid pandemic, shelters need support
Kosovo has seen a 17 per cent increase in gender-based violence. One city recorded a 100 per cent increase.
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Staggering numbers of women unable to exercise decision-making over their own bodies, new UNFPA report shows
A new report by UNFPA offers, for the first time, a global view of women’s decision-making power over their own bodies. The findings are dismaying.
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As COVID-19 pandemic increases childcare burden, calls for Georgian men to step up
Georgia
School closures and stay-at-home orders are dramatically increasing the burden on parents, with women traditionally shouldering the majority of childcare responsibilities.
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Former child bride, once sold to pay debts, finds a new start
Iraq
Intisar* was only 15 years old her parents sold her to another family to pay off a debt.
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As pandemic rages, women and girls face intensified risks
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages around the world, governments are taking unprecedented measures to limit the spread of the virus, ramping up health system responses and announcing movement restrictions affecting millions…
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In climate change-affected Lesotho, self-injected contraceptives empower women to choose their own future
Lesotho
Regina Mokoena has seen first-hand how drought and climate change are increasing the demand for family planning in her village.
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“We must resolutely resist any attempts to go back”: Listening to the icons and activists of women’s rights
The eighth of March is International Women’s Day, and the stakes could not be higher.
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As COVID-19 continues to spread, pregnant and breastfeeding women advised to take precautions
Pregnant women should take routine preventative actions to avoid infection with the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), UNFPA announced in a statement today. Little is currently known about the vulnerability of pregnant…
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Better suicide prevention and mental health care needed among Myanmar’s most vulnerable
Myanmar
Globally, a person dies from suicide every 40 seconds. In Myanmar, conflict and crisis may leave young people at increased vulnerability.
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Protecting midwives on the front lines of the Ebola response
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo remains in the grip of the world’s second largest Ebola epidemic on record, and among those most at risk are health workers.
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Maternal deaths declining in Morocco thanks to midwives, but more support needed
Morocco
Madame Najat Baloui, a midwife in Casablanca, vividly remembers a childbirth that went horribly wrong. “A woman was delivering vaginally,” Ms. Baloui recalled. “After several hours, the labour stopped suddenly.”
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