P580 M more needed to meet women’s needs in disaster area – UN agency

MANILA, Philippines—The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said Wednesday it needs $12.9 million (around P580 million) in additional funding for life-saving reproductive health care and protection programs for women in Eastern Visayas, where the need for support by the international community persists a hundred days since Super Typhoon Yolanda devastated the region.

The UNFPA said $3.3 million (P148.5) of its appeal for funds totalling $16.2 million (P729 million) has so far been funded. This will cover only 20 percent of the amount the agency deemed was needed to provide maternal health care services and support programs that prevent violence on women and girls of child-bearing age.

There are an estimated 3.5 million women and girls in areas affected by the typhoon.

“One hundred days since typhoon Yolanda hit central Philippines and left massive destruction and loss of lives, recovery efforts have shown some progress but much remains to be done to fully bring the affected communities back on their feet,” the UNFPA said in a statement.

The agency said that while certain services have already been provided in the last three months, much more could be done to support women and girls of child-bearing age—a sector deemed among the most vulnerable as local health care and education systems and shelter provisions have yet to be fully restored.

The UNFPA estimates that in the disaster zone, there are roughly 250,000 pregnant women and 169,000 breastfeeding mothers. Some 1,000 babies are born every day, with about 150 of them likely to “experience potentially life-threatening complications,” it said.

The UNFPA has also been moving to establish protection systems for women, as gender-based violence is known to “escalate during emergencies as the scant protections women and girls have even in times of stability are eroded.”

With the funding it has so far received, the UNFPA has undertaken some 60 medical missions in the disaster zone, serving roughly 12,000 women and girls in four areas hardest hit by the Nov. 8 typhoon: Leyte, Eastern Samar, Iloilo and Capiz.

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