UNFPA, the United Nations reproductive health agency, is dedicated to safeguarding the health, rights, and dignity of girls and women during the Ukraine crisis, including their right to give birth safely and live free from violence. Seema Jalan, Executive Director of the Universal Access Project, which recently hosted a media briefing with UNFPA representatives about the situation in Ukraine, helps unpack the agency’s efforts to support girls and women at risk and explains what this crisis means for UNFPA’s decadeslong efforts to strengthen Ukrainian health systems.

News reports of the Russian invasion of Ukraine have been harrowing: Civilians have been targeted, cities have been shelled, and life as so many knew it has been completely upended. As humanitarian needs in Ukraine have surged, so has the work of the United Nations, which is committed to stay and deliver for the people of Ukraine and is actively scaling up humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and neighboring countries.

“What we are seeing right now is the largest refugee crisis since World War II in Europe: an estimated 2.3 million refugees, mostly women, girls and children,” Giulia Vallese, Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations reproductive health agency, said during a press briefing hosted by the Universal Access Project on March 10, 2022. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has since updated its estimates to 2.8 million. “In the situation of war, the needs of women and girls are often neglected. People think about food, shelter — this is extremely important. But often forgotten is the fact that women still get pregnant, they still deliver, they still get their periods.”

UNFPA has not forgotten. The agency remains the leading responder for girls and women in humanitarian crises, and Ukraine is no exception. Dr. Natalia Kanem, the UNFPA Executive Director, emphasized that the agency’s priority remains safeguarding the health, rights, and dignity of girls and women affected by the Ukraine crisis — including their right to give birth safely and live free from violence — regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity.

“Women deserve a life of dignity and respect, wherever they are — on the move across the border or in Ukraine,” said Jaime Nadal, UNFPA’s Representative in Ukraine.

UNFPA estimates that 80,000 women will give birth in Ukraine in the next three months. Maternity wards have been bombed and destroyed most recently in Mariupol, but also in Zhytomyr and Saltivsky – prompting UNFPA, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization to jointly call for an “immediate cessation of all attacks on health care in Ukraine.”

Read the full article about helping women and girls in Ukraine by Seema Jalan at United Nations Foundation.