UNITED NATIONS, Mar 28 (APP): The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has called for support to those suffering from invisible impacts of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, including women and girls whose access to life-saving sexual and reproductive health care may be disrupted.
In a statement, Executive Director of the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, Dr. Natalia Kanem, said the Fund’s work is ramping up even as the novel coronavirus continues to test health care systems around the world.
She warned that women, girls and health workers must not be overlooked as the world responds to the greatest health crisis in a century.
As in most crises, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted access to critical sexual and reproductive health services and hampered authorities’ ability to respond to gender-based violence, at a time when women and girls need these services most.
In his appeal for a global ceasefire amid the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this week, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized that women and children are among the most vulnerable in times of war and face the highest risk of suffering devastating losses from the pandemic.
UNFPA has appealed to donors to fund its response plan, which targets countries with weak public health systems including countries in fragile and humanitarian situations. It is provisionally projecting that it will need $187.5 million.
Efforts will focus on bolstering health systems, procuring and delivering essential supplies to protect health workers, ensuring access to reproductive health and gender-based violence services, and promoting risk communication and community engagement.
As communities around the globe grapple with the most immediate effects of the pandemic, overwhelmed healthcare systems and populations in quarantine can also suffer a ripple of additional impacts.
“Now is a time for solidarity, resolve and selflessness. We must not forget that there are people we may not immediately see, who are at great risk as a result of the consequences of the crisis,” Dr. Kanem, the UNFPA chief, said.
Those can include pregnant women who require antenatal care but are unsure whether it is safe to go to the clinic, as well as women in abusive relationships trapped at home for the foreseeable future and fearing for their safety.
Dr. Kanem also pointed to tens of millions of people living in refugee camps – for whom “social distancing” practices are not an option – and older people around the globe who remain isolated and starved of social interaction as they avoid infection.
UNFPA said it is working to support affected health systems, in particular by distributing material support to protect health workers and midwives.
However, Dr. Kanem stressed that more work is needed to ensure that the most intimate – yet essential – needs of women and girls are met as the world continues to battle COVID-19 in the months ahead.
“This global scourge requires a global response,” she said, urging the international community to stand up for the dignity and health of women as part of its efforts.
