Saudi support for the United Nations Population Fund to meet reproductive health needs on the West Coast
English - Saturday 29 August 2020 الساعة 02:21 pm
Al-Hodeidah, Newsyemen:
The United Nations Population Fund has welcomed a $ 2.6 million Saudi contribution to improving emergency reproductive health services on the West Coast.
Nestor Owomuhangi, Acting Representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Yemen, said, "Pregnant women in remote and war-affected areas must travel frequently for more than five or six hours where they risk their lives and the lives of their unborn children because reproductive health services are not readily available near where they live.
We express our gratitude to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for meeting the health needs of women and girls, and for its support for the United Nations Population Fund to improve access to and availability of reproductive health services in areas of greatest need, he added.
This support will help more than 150,000 women and girls access services within the next 12 months to reduce the distance they have to travel in search of reproductive health services, in addition to improving the quality of services provided in health facilities.
The funding comes at a time when 20 percent of operating health facilities suffer from the availability of maternal and child services due to lack of staff, lack of supplies, and the inability to cover operational costs and their damage due to the Iranian arm war.
This funding will enable UNFPA to improve access to emergency reproductive health services for women and girls in the West Coast regions, including those hard-to-reach in parts of the south of the country, while supporting 15 health facilities and 50 community midwives.
The United Nations Population Fund is the sole provider of life-saving reproductive health supplies in Yemen and is coordinating and providing protection services across the country.
