UN Population Fund intensifies support for mothers' needs in famine-hit Horn of Africa

[News_Editor]

UN Population Fund intensifies support for mothers' needs in famine-hit Horn of Africa

2011-07-23 05:58:38 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) – The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Friday said it is scaling up its efforts to aid women and children who have been affected by famine and displacement in the Horn of Africa.

"We are deeply concerned by the gravity of the situation in the region," said UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin. "We call upon the international community to urgently look after the unique needs of pregnant women and mothers whose families' survival are particularly at risk."

Given that 80 percent of refugees in the region are women and children, UNFPA is focusing on providing care for pregnant women and lactating mothers. UNFPA offices in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti are carrying out emergency measures to distribute reproductive health care supplies, medical equipment and dignity kits to affected populations.

These kits address women's unique needs by including hygiene items such as sanitary pads, underwear and soap. Because of strict dress codes for women in Somalia, headscarves are included in these kits to ensure women's mobility so that they can provide for their children. Over 3,500 kits have already been distributed in North and North East Kenya.

UNFPA said the measures will ensure life saving treatment for mothers and their children, while also facilitating safe deliveries of newborns given that famine can also lead to complications during pregnancy and childbirth and increases the risk of maternal deaths and infant illnesses. Disabilities in the infants can be reduced by almost one third by eliminating malnutrition among mothers, according to experts.

UNFPA is also alarmed by overcrowding in Dadaab, Kenya, the largest refugee settlement in the world with a population of nearly 380,000 people. As health services are overstretched, UNFPA is working with local partners to provide targeted reproductive health care to those in urgent need.

The organization said women, young girls and boys in such situations are increasingly vulnerable to sexual violence and exploitation, including trafficking. Therefore, UNFPA is attempting to ensure that medical and psychosocial services are provided to survivors of sexual violence.

According to the United Nations, 2011 is the driest period in the Eastern Horn of Africa since 1995. The drought remains a major threat with no likelihood of improvement until early 2012, and the number of people in acute livelihood crisis is expected to increase from 8.8 million in the coming months.

As the drought continues, famine and its consequences will continue to affect women for the foreseeable future. "While a short-term and immediate response is urgently needed," explained Dr. Osotimehin, "UNFPA is working on a strategy for long-term support to the region."

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-07-23

[cloudhopper]

The UN has only itself to blame for this problem.

[Scott]

I am curious why you think the UN is to blame for the problem?

[cloudhopper]

The UN provided food, shelter and more for decades to a population living in a geographic region that simply could not physically support it. Now that population has multiplied exponentially on that artificial support requiring ever more resources transported into camps containing generations of people that have known nothing else and are now totally dependent on that support. All the UN has done is guarantee that when the final crisis comes, as it inevitably must, it will be even more tragic, and by orders of magnitude.

[Scott]

Thanks, Cloudhopper. I understand your argument. I don't totally agree, but it's certainly a valid one.

[geriatrickid]

I believe the famine is a result of the ongoing war. The UN most certainly was not to blame. The rebel group refused to allow aid groups in.

[cloudhopper]

Quite right kid I did not mean to imply that the UN was the proximate cause.

The general result of decades of UN operations in that region have left a growing population increasingly vulnerable to any supply disruption, be it from war, weather, energy shortage etc. And also IMO the UN being like any other large and growing bureaucracy entirely dependent on funding from others has had no incentive whatever to reduce the apparent need for its existence.