Humanitarian emergency procurement

 

UNFPA is committed to ensuring that the reproductive and maternal health needs of women are not overlooked during a humanitarian crisis. When conflict and natural disasters occur, pregnancy-related deaths and sexual violence soar. Reproductive health services, including prenatal care, assisted delivery, and emergency obstetric care often become unavailable. Young people become more vulnerable to HIV infection and sexual exploitation. And many women lose access to family planning services, exposing them to unwanted pregnancy in perilous conditions. UNFPA moves quickly when emergency strikes, to protect the reproductive health of communities in crisis.

The Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for Reproductive Health is a priority set of life‐saving activities to be implemented at the onset of every humanitarian crisis. The MISP prevents excess neonatal and maternal morbidity and mortality, reduces HIV transmission, prevents and manages the consequences of sexual violence, and includes planning for the provision of comprehensive reproductive health services integrated into the primary health program in place, including the provision of RH equipment and supplies.

 

In support of the MISP, UNFPA maintains stock of 18 different essential reproductive health kits (RH Kits), ready to ship for urgent and emergency requests. The kits are divided into three blocks, and are designed to respond to three month's need for various population sizes. The individual kits are small enough and have convenient packaging, enabling them to be handled by one or two people. All boxes are clearly marked on the outside with the kit number, a distinct color for each kit, as well as a description of contents, consignee and other relevant information. 

 

Clients can order these Reproductive Health Kits for Emergency Situations through UNFPA. In emergency situations, orders will be delivered on average 2 to 7 days after finalization of the budget. Under normal circumstances, this process may take up to 10-12 weeks.

 

If you are interested in ordering RH kits from UNFPA, please review the Manual on Inter-Agency Reproductive Health Kits for Crisis Situations (See Related Resources on this page). The manual provides detailed information on the contents of the kits and guidance on meeting reproductive health needs in humanitarian settings.

 

To place an order for RH kits, please see the Product Catalog for kit details and price. Fill out a Request Form available in (En, Es, Fr), and send your filled out Request Form to the UNFPA emergency procurement team at rhkits@unfpa.org.

 

The emergency procurement team is on hand to provide expertise, assist with the ordering process, and assess reproductive health needs with the help of Technical Advisors from the UNFPA Humanitarian and Fragile Contexts Branch. Through our close cooperation with other United Nations agencies, items outside of reproductive health may be found via the UNICEF Supply Catalogue and UN Webbuy.