Hager Zakaaraya is more than a midwife. For years she has opened her doors to women in her community as an advocate, mentor and friend.

She has been working as a midwife since 1997, first at clinics and hospitals in Gedaref state in eastern Sudan and now from her home, which she has converted into a clinic, in the northeastern city of Hai Sawakin. 

Women line up to see her, thanks to her reputation for skilled care and camaraderie. UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, supports her work, providing medicines and supplies, such as fetal heart monitors, that are essential to saving the lives of women and their newborns.

Here, a look inside her home clinic.

Her reputation is well earned. Hager recalls a woman named Imane who came to her clinic when she was eight months pregnant, in agonizing pain. Hager detected that the fetus had a weak heartbeat and referred Imane to a medical centre. The diagnosis: a dangerous case of sepsis. 

Imane wasn’t due to give birth for another month, and she was on her own at the clinic. Her parents had passed away, and her husband and sister weren’t able to come stay with her. And so, Hager packed her things and went to the clinic herself. “I could not leave her alone,” she says. “I had to support her, be her mother, daughter and backbone.” 

Imane and her baby made it through the harrowing situation, with Hager by their side. “We became friends, like sisters,” Hager says.

Hager’s home has always been busy, filled with her own children as well as with women and their children who need her help at any given time, such as those displaced by conflict. The kids play together while the women cook, chat and build friendships and support systems through the most challenging of times.

In addition to her clinic, Hager offers workshops to provide information on family planning and pregnancy, as well as on rape and support for survivors, including safe spaces run by UNFPA. 

In Sudan, rape has long been used as a weapon of war. Some 12.1 million people in the war-torn country – nearly 1 in 4 – are at risk of gender-based violence. “In some rape cases, the women were pregnant for three months, some four months, by the time they found out – and one for nine months,” says Hager. She believes it’s important to speak out about sexual violence, as too many women suffer from trauma and stigma in silence.

UNFPA operates 75 safe spaces across Sudan, but much more support is needed for women and girls in this country, where civil war has pushed the humanitarian crisis to unprecedented levels. Millions of people have been driven from their homes, and an estimated 726,500 pregnant women are in need of emergency assistance. The country is experiencing its worst levels of food insecurity ever recorded.

Deep funding cuts have forced the closure of crucial health facilities and safe spaces across the country, while training for midwives has been put on hold, leaving many women to face life-threatening conditions on their own. UNFPA calls for urgent financial support to address the colossal funding gap and the growing needs of women and girls in Sudan.

Hager is one person doing all she can.