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Fighting the stigma of living with HIV in Sri Lanka
Kamal* was given one week to live. He lay in a hospital bed, weighing just 20 kilograms when the doctor diagnosed him with HIV and announced his dire prediction to family and friends in the waiting room. That was 15…
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5 ways the world is changing how it sees menstruation
“Menstruation is still considered a secret that is hardly discussed,” Ogaufi Moisakamo, in Botswana, told UNFPA. “When I got my first period, I was also ashamed of informing my mother. And when I finally told her, she…
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Population census enters the digital age in Kyrgyzstan
For ten days in the spring, 24,000 enumerators spread out across this Central Asian country of 7 million to finally conduct the national population and housing census that had been postponed for two years because of…
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Ethiopia’s worst drought in 40 years threatens to derail gains made in maternal and newborn health
“When I saw my baby’s hand coming out, I ran for our lives. We travelled nearly 90 kilometres to the nearest health facility… We are both lucky to be alive.”
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Three women, three stories: Picking up the pieces of lives broken by obstetric fistula
Pemba was called “ndoki,” or “witch,” by her community, including her father and siblings. Sojina felt like a prisoner in the room she was banished to, forbidden to step outside even to worship. Jasmila’s career as an…
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5 things you might not know about obstetric fistula
First things first, what is obstetric fistula? What it is: Obstetric fistula is a traumatic childbirth injury that robs a woman or girl of her health, rights and dignity. It is a hole between the birth canal and bladder…
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Family health houses save lives, employ women, in rural Afghanistan
Five years ago, midwife Laila Amini watched a girl die in childbirth from causes that were entirely preventable. That day, Ms. Amini resolved that no other women or girls in her community would die when they still had a…
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Women and girls’ rights are an unseen casualty of the crisis in Syria
“Life quickly became an open-air prison after the war,” a young woman from Aleppo told UNFPA. “We were instructed not to leave our houses for fear of harrassment, rape and kidnap. I was told that child marriage was my…
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Ukraine crisis rooms, created for survivors of domestic violence, now house survivors of war
They are called “crisis rooms”: temporary accommodation for women and their children, with a kitchen, furniture, utensils and food, operated by local social welfare centres. This network of safe spaces was created to…
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