UK announces £4.25 million (c. $5.3 million) for UNFPA’s humanitarian response in the occupied Palestinian territories to support women and girls

UNITED NATIONS, New York – The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has announced new funding for UNFPA’s response to the crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory, to provide urgent sexual and reproductive health support for women and girls in need.

The £4.25 million ($5.3 million) contribution will enable UNFPA to provide more critical reproductive health supplies to Gaza. These include medicine and equipment for ensuring safe deliveries, neonatal care and managing obstetric emergencies, as well as clean delivery kits to improve the hygiene conditions for women giving birth and supplies for those who have recently delivered.

UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Natalia Kanem, said: “In Gaza, the reality for women and girls is horrific – and getting worse each day. They have little to no access to essential health services and menstrual supplies, and many are forced to give birth in unsafe conditions that put their lives and those of their babies at risk.

“The support of the United Kingdom and other partners is vital to get life-saving resources directly to women and girls in desperate need,” Dr. Kanem added.

UNFPA condemns the violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and echoes the UN Secretary-General’s call for a full humanitarian ceasefire, for the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, and for unimpeded access for humanitarian aid and workers within Gaza.

The Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, said: “Women are bearing the brunt of the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza today. Many thousands of women are currently pregnant and will be worrying about delivering their babies safely. This new UK funding will help make giving birth safer and improve the lives of mothers and their new-born babies.”

“We need to see an immediate pause in the fighting so we can secure the safe release of hostages, get more aid in, and allow organizations like UNFPA to do their vital work effectively,” added Lord Cameron.

UNFPA has provided supplies to support more than half of the 21,000 births that have taken place in Gaza since October 7, distributed 7,000 menstrual hygiene management kits, deployed 50 community midwives to provide sexual and reproductive health services and provided nearly 74,000 young people with emergency psychosocial support.

However, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is catastrophic and more aid is urgently needed. Only 13 out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza strip are partially functional – including just two in the north – and approximately 85 per cent of the population is displaced.

In the West Bank, tensions have reached boiling point and some 73,000 pregnant women are living in a state of fear and anxiety, more than 8,000 of whom are expected to give birth in the next month.

The United Kingdom is a long-standing partner to UNFPA in advancing the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls and those left furthest behind. 

In 2023 the United Kingdom was the second-largest bilateral donor to UNFPA, the lead donor to the UNFPA Supplies Partnership, and a top five bilateral donor to UNFPA’s humanitarian work.