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| Image :UNFPA |
A brutal attack by Boko Haram forced Zainab
Abubakar, 28, and her six children to flee their home in northern Nigeria. “I
was one month pregnant when I left Gamboru Ngala,” Ms. Abubakar told UNFPA from
the Dalori displacement camp in Maiduguri. “During my escape, I lost my
pregnancy.”
Ms. Abubakar’s tragic miscarriage took
place in 2014, but the Boko Haram crisis continues to drive women and girls
from their homes – and from access to basic health care.
An estimated 26 million people live in
conflict-affected areas of Nigeria, according to the 2017
Humanitarian Needs Overview, and some 14 million people are in need of
humanitarian assistance. In the three states worst affected by the insurgency –
Adamawa, Borno and Yobe – some 1.64 million people have been displaced from
their homes, according to recent
UN reports
UNFPA estimates that, among the vulnerable
population, 1,725,000 women of reproductive age will require life-saving
reproductive health services in 2017.
“For women and girls – especially pregnant
women, who may face life-threatening childbirth complications, as well as
lactating women, caring for newborns throughout the chaos – whether they live
or die in a crisis often depends on their access to basic sexual and
reproductive health services,” said Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, the Executive
Director of UNFPA, during a recent mission to northern Nigeria.
Restoring access to reproductive health
care
Nigeria has one of the highest
rates of maternal death in the world. The risks are compounded for
women and girls living through humanitarian crises, which undermine community
support mechanisms and limit access to health facilities.
UNFPA is working to reach people whose live
has been turned upside down by the Boko Haram insurgency. There is ongoing
support to 155 health facilities and clinics in Adamawa, Borno and Yorbe
states, reaching 1.2 million people. Some 300,000 people were reached in
October and November of 2016 alone.
Read more here
News credit: UNFPA
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