Greater Investment For Family Planning Services In Humanitarian Settings Critical To Meeting Needs Of Women, Girls

Huffington Post: Lack of family planning casts a shadow over the future for millions of women and girls on the move
Flavia Bustreo, assistant director general for family, women’s and children’s health at the WHO, and vice chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

“…Research into the effectiveness of interventions in fragile settings is complex, but greater investment is needed to ensure that action to reach women and girls in these most difficult of settings is based on the strongest possible evidence. … Later this year, WHO will launch a multi-partner consortium to strengthen collaboration between aid agencies on the ground and researchers so that high quality evidence on sexual and reproductive health and rights in humanitarian settings is generated to better meet the needs of women and girls. Investing in family planning saves lives. But the ripple effects are even greater. By investing in family planning we also invest in realizing human rights, upholding dignity, and sowing the seeds of truly sustainable development, especially for women and girls on the move” (7/8).

Huffington Post: Family planning in war zones: make aid feminist
Skye Wheeler, women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch

“…[D]onors and policymakers need to start making concerted efforts to reach women in humanitarian crises with a range of options for family planning. The greatest proportion of women who die in pregnancy or childbirth are in conflict-affected countries, or countries recently emerging from conflict. Family planning is lifesaving. … [Family planning] services are key not only for women recently and temporarily displaced because of conflict, but for the huge numbers who are stuck in long-term and complex conflicts that show no sign of ending soon. Making family planning an adequately funded and normal part of aid may save lives of women … but could also open up choices that women in the rest of the world take for granted. The basic right to be able to control your own fertility, to choose when to be pregnant, should be one that all women have access to” (7/10).

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