Programs Reproductive Health
Every woman has a right to a safe and healthy pregnancy, delivery and post-delivery. Complications associated with pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death and disability among women of reproductive age in developing countries. Maternal deaths are caused by three major delays: in the decision to seek care, in the transportation to a health care facility and in receiving appropriate care once at the health care facility.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a maternal death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of the termination of her pregnancy from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management. The five leading causes of maternal death are: hemorrhage, sepsis, complications resulting from unsafe abortion, prolonged or obstructed labor and hypertensive disorders.
Millions of women also suffer infections and debilitating injuries from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. The desperate circumstances in which displaced women and girls flee conflict put them at exceptional risk of pregnancy-related death, illness and disability. Health care services and resources that women and girls may have had before displacement are usually no longer available to them. Childbirth may take place in a ditch alongside the road, in the forest or in makeshift shelter.
An increase in vaginal fistula, where tears in the tissue of the vagina, bladder and rectum leave women unable to control their bodily functions, has been linked to early marriage, harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation and exceedingly violent rapes of women and girls in conflict-affected areas. Affected women and girls are often ostracized by their communities and may be divorced or abandoned. When fistula is left untreated, there is little possibility of carrying another pregnancy to term.
More than 120 million women say they want to wait longer between their pregnancies or limit their families, but currently do not have accessible, affordable or appropriate means to do so. Women and adolescent girls in refugee and internally displaced settings struggle with unwanted, unplanned and poorly spaced pregnancies threatening their lives and the well-being of their children. While some women may choose to become pregnant, others may prefer to avoid pregnancy and the difficulties of childrearing in a camp or other unstable setting. Yet many of these women and girls do not have a choice because contraceptive services are often unavailable or they do not know where and when they can access them. Even where services do exist, women and girls are often deterred from using contraception by cultural mores or political pressure to rebuild the population. Unwanted pregnancies, and the increase in unsafe abortions, are also by-products of a breakdown in social order in which rape and sex work may become more common.
In 1994, few family planning services were available to conflict-affected populations. Significant strides in family planning availability have been made over the last decade. However, substantial challenges remain to improve service provision and increase awareness and usage of family planning in conflict-affected settings.
