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“I will stand tall for my children”: Dozens of pregnant refugees give birth amid turmoil after fleeing to Armenia
VARDENIS, Armenia – "The doctors were pessimistic. They were convinced that my child would not survive,” said 28-year-old single mother Marta Asryan. “I was weak, bleeding – but I insisted that my son was going to…
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After a month of siege, bombardments and a health system obliterated, pregnant women in Gaza are caught in a catastrophe
GAZA, Palestine – “The working conditions in our hospital are catastrophic. We lack basic life necessities and we’re struggling with a severe shortage of water,” said Yasmine Ahmed, a midwife at Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’…
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“Hope arrived in the form of Rahna”: The life-saving work of midwives after the Afghanistan earthquake
ZINDAJAN, Afghanistan – Early in the morning on 15 October, 20-year-old Hanifa felt them: The contractions that signalled her baby was on its way.
The timing was less than ideal. Just one week prior, a 6.3-…
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Relentless attacks, collapse of health and safety systems leave Gaza's women and girls facing “unthinkable challenges”
GAZA, Palestine – "I sleep on the streets, just like you found me. The situation is unbearable here,” a pregnant woman, due in just weeks, told UNFPA.
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Smoothing rough roads to reproductive health services in the Philippines
GUINDULUNGAN, The Philippines – For many members of the indigenous Teduray tribe residing in the southern Philippines, going to the doctor means gearing up for a major journey.
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“They need someone to listen”: UNFPA supports essential psychosocial service delivery after deadly earthquakes in Afghanistan
HERAT, Afghanistan – “I thought that somebody was shaking me. And then the roof collapsed.”
This is what 25-year-old Shamaiel from Naieb Rafi village, Afghanistan, recalled to midwife Nafisa Hotak following a 6.…
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“Race against death” amid relentless bombardment in Gaza, pregnant women tell UNFPA
GAZA, Palestine – “My baby was feeling every explosion,” a pregnant woman from northern Gaza told UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, from the school where she is currently sheltering. The…
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Sudan’s women and girls endure six months of conflict with no end in sight
KHARTOUM, Sudan – Lubna still remembers the sound of shelling in Khartoum, the capital city of Sudan, six months ago. The 34-year old was, at the time, mother to six children and pregnant. “I was wondering how I can…
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Afghanistan quake leaves most vulnerable – women and girls – in dire situation
HERAT, Afghanistan – More than 12,000 people have been impacted by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake which struck on the morning of 7 October, with most of the severely injured believed to be women and children.
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