News story
Tanzanian women highlight the path from bodily autonomy to sustainable development
ZANZIBAR, United Republic of Tanzania – “When I learned about family planning, I felt like I had control over my life,” said Mwanaisha Rajabu, a 28-year-old mother of three living in Fuoni, a village on the Unguja…
Read story
News story
Bertha Arzú: The Afro-indigenous activist who took on HIV in Honduras
Honduras
TELA, Honduras – In the early 2000s, even as the AIDS epidemic began to wane, one country in Central America remained disproportionately endangered by the virus: Honduras. At the time, more than half of all cases in…
Read story
News story
Men in detention face sexual torture amid war in Ukraine
Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine – In the early hours of the morning, at a location in Ukraine not far from the front line of the war, Antonina* found herself staring at a disturbing message on her phone. It was a video recording of her…
Read story
News story
Nadia’s song of resilience: Raising her voice amid crisis and displacement
Syrian Arab Republic
UNITED NATIONS, New York – “I've loved singing since I was a child,” 24-year-old Nadia told UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. “It is my way of expressing my feelings and thoughts.”
Read story
News story
“Where are we supposed to go?”: Women and girls in northern Gaza endure displacement, hunger and healthcare under attack
Palestine, State of
NORTH GAZA, Occupied Palestinian Territory – Adla was forced from her home in Jabalia, in North Gaza, after it was demolished by Israeli forces. “We had no mattress, no food, no clothes – nothing. We fled the airstrikes…
Read story
News story
Meeting women's and girls' needs where they are to prevent and address gender-based violence
New York
UNITED NATIONS, New York – Too often, when conflict and crisis force women and girls to flee their homes, gender-based abuse follows close behind. Amid the chaos of displacement, the threat of violence by armed actors,…
Read story
News story
“You don’t see young women in some camps”: Harrowing reports of sexual violence and healthcare attacks in Sudan’s Aj Jazirah State
Sudan
AJ JAZIRAH, Sudan – “Some parents were killed while trying to protect their daughters from being raped,” said Sara*, a counsellor in Sudan’s eastern Aj Jazirah state and one of many health workers relaying shocking…
Read story
News story
What women and girls need most as climate disasters and displacement wreak havoc across the world
UNITED NATIONS, New York – Across dozens of countries, the global climate crisis is not impending – it has arrived. In 2023, climate disasters drove millions of the world’s most vulnerable women and girls from their…
Read story
News story
A sisterhood of support: Improving maternity care in Ethiopia’s climate change-ravaged Somali region
Ethiopia
SOMALI REGION, Ethiopia – Abeba Birhanu, a 46-year-old midwife, has spent more than half her life delivering babies at the Karamara Hospital in Jigjiga, the capital of Ethiopia’s Somali region. Throughout those years,…
Read story
News story
In the West Bank, mobile healthcare teams are a lifeline amid crisis
Palestine, State of
WEST BANK, State of Palestine – In the small village of Bethlehem’s Al Uqban, 55-year-old Mariam Al Zeer waited in line while a mobile healthcare team arrived at the clinic. The existing clinic is rundown and does not…
Read story
News story
Mass displacement of pregnant women requires mobilization of maternal health services in Lebanon, Syria
Lebanon
BEIRUT, Lebanon/ DAMASCUS, Syria – More than 11,000 pregnant women have been impacted by the escalated bombardment of Lebanon. Some 1,300 of them are expected to give birth in the next month, even as an estimated one…
Read story
News story
In Sudan, city’s last remaining hospital shelled: “We need support now”
Sudan
AL FASHER, Sudan – A succession of five artillery shells struck Al-Saudi Maternity Hospital, the last remaining hospital in Al Fasher, on 13 October. The blasts injured 10 medical personnel and destroyed multiple…
Read story