Hurricane Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 storm in southwestern Jamaica on 28 October, with winds exceeding 220 km/h, before striking southeastern Cuba the following day. The storm caused catastrophic flooding, landslides, and widespread infrastructure damage across Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, affecting over 5 million people and displacing thousands. Essential services — including health, water, power, and protection systems — have been severely disrupted, with hospitals and maternity wards in western Jamaica and eastern Cuba flooded or without power. In Haiti, 69 health facilities sustained damage, with movement restrictions, fuel shortages, and cold chain interruptions further limiting care. Only 32 emergency obstetric and neonatal care (EmONC) facilities remain partially functional across the subregion. Women, adolescent girls, and newborns are among the most affected, facing disrupted access to life-saving sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and gender-based violence (GBV) services. The absence of lighting and overcrowding in temporary shelters is heightening GBV risks, while health systems strained by recurrent climate shocks face mounting pressure to restore maternal and newborn care.
UNFPA is coordinating with governments, UN partners, and civil society to restore SRH and GBV services and ensure women, girls, and youth remain at the centre of the response. Rapid assessments and mobile SRH/GBV teams have been deployed in Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica, while more than 5,000 SRH and dignity kits are being distributed across four countries. Emergency reproductive health kits, solar-powered refrigerators, and high-performance tents with solar lighting are being dispatched to sustain essential services and create safe spaces for women and girls. In Haiti, integrated mobile clinics and hotlines are reaching affected communities, while in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, UNFPA is supporting national authorities to re-establish safe delivery points, strengthen protection services, and integrate GBV prevention into shelter management. Regional coordination efforts include the deployment of SRH, GBV, and logistics experts, activation of emergency procedures across country offices, and the production of the Common Operational Dataset on Population Statistics (COD-PS) to guide evidence-based response planning.
