Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center has announced a contribution of $2.5 million, supporting the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), to provide life-saving reproductive health services to the most vulnerable women and girls in Yemen.
The funding will help increase access to reproductive health services for women and girls, with support to 15 health facilities and 50 community midwives in southern parts of the country.
This support aims to reach more than 350,000 women and girls in the next 12 months, enabling pregnant women to deliver safely, while addressing other reproductive health complications such as obstetric fistula.
UNFPA appealed for $87 million over the next six months to urgently fund its life-saving response for the reproductive health and protection of the affected women and girls.
An estimated 8.1 million women and girls of childbearing age in Yemen require help accessing reproductive health services.
Only one in five of the functioning health facilities provide maternal and child health services due to extreme shortages of essential medicines, supplies and specialized staff.
“As the humanitarian crisis in Yemen enters its eighth year, the situation for women and girls of childbearing age is increasingly dire,”' said UNFPA Arab States Regional Director Luay Shabaneh.
He thanked KSrelief for recognizing the enormous needs for the health and protection of women and girls in Yemen and partnering with UNFPA to maintain vital reproductive health services.
KSrelief has been a longstanding partner of UNFPA in Yemen, helping to reach hundreds of thousands of women and girls with reproductive health and protection information and services since 2015.
Separately, Director of the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY) in Aden Eng. Ahmed Madkhali held talks on Friday with Taiz Governor Nabil Shamsan.
Discussions touched on the SDRPY’s implemented projects and the upcoming projects in Taiz.
Shamsan hailed the SDRPY’s strategic projects, interventions and various activities in the governorate, Saba news agency reported.
Madkhali, for his part, reviewed reports of the implemented projects and announced a plan to implement more in the future.
He underlined the great importance the Program leadership attaches to the governorate and keenness to alleviate people’s suffering.