Yearlong conflict in Yemen puts 3.4 million women of reproductive age at risk, UN agency warns

The yearlong conflict in Yemen has led to 21.2 million people requiring some form of humanitarian assistance, with nearly half of them being women and girls, the United Nations Population Fund ( UNFPA) said Thursday, voicing its growing concern about the needs of about 3.4 million women of reproductive age.

Of those women in reproductive age (between 15 and 49 years), nearly 500,000 are pregnant and will give birth within the next nine months, UNFPA said.

The conflict in Yemen has also resulted in the breakdown of health services, with severe shortages of qualified medical personnel and life-saving reproductive health supplies, leaving an estimated 15.2 million people in need of health assistance, including access to reproductive health services, said the UN agency in a press release.

The lack of such services and supplies can result in about 1,000 maternal deaths among 68,000 pregnant women who are at risk of life-threatening complications during childbirth.

"The status of women and girls was already weak in Yemen prior to the conflict; 92 percent of women reported that violence against women commonly occurred in the home. And today, they are even more vulnerable, exposed to abuse and exploitation," said Lene K. Christiansen, UNFPA representative in Yemen. "Women and girls lack access to humanitarian aid, including reproductive health services, and are therefore even more at risk of unwanted pregnancies, which, in turn, can put their lives at risk."

Despite security and logistical challenges, UNFPA continues its efforts to meet the needs of women and girls in the field of reproductive health, and to help protect them from gender-based violence.

To date, UNFPA has supported 38 hospitals across the country with lifesaving reproductive health equipment, medicines and supplies. Reproductive health kits containing medical and surgical supplies ensure safe deliveries, including at home. These have benefited some 453,000 women and girls of reproductive age.

In remote conflict affected areas, UNFPA supported mobile teams, providing reproductive health services that include antenatal and postnatal care, family planning services and assistance for safe deliveries.

UNFPA has provided more than 100,000 dignity kits to the most vulnerable women and girls in 19 governorates in Yemen to maintain their personal and menstrual hygiene.

In addition, more than 6,000 survivors of gender-based violence have accessed services that include psycho-social support, legal aid, access to safe houses, and referral to health and other services; and awareness raising sessions continue with the engagement of men and boys.

Through the recently launched 2016 Yemen Humanitarian Response, UNFPA has appealed for a funding of 15.6 million U.S. dollars to ensure the continuation of sexual and reproductive health services and to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in Yemen.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East and the affiliate of the Islamic State.

The security situation in the country has deteriorated since March 2015, when war broke out between Shiite Houthi group, supported by former Yemeni President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government, backed by an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia. Endit