Mother and daughter, Liza and Agnes, living in a small seaside community of St Bernard in the Philippines, recalled the day Super Typhoon Rai made landfall. When I visited them, they told me that when the typhoon hit, the wind sounded like a thousand horses thundering through the community and ripping houses and families violently apart, destroying thousands of lives, and disrupting access to critical health services.
Liza and Agnes and millions of girls who found themselves pregnant while in the maelstrom of crises, from natural disasters to pandemics, and conflicts -- are the real victims. Evidence shows us that in humanitarian settings, more than 50% of all maternal deaths and up to 70% of gender-based violence occur.
This is particularly apparent in Asia and the Pacific, the world's most disaster-prone region, where women and girls are at high risk and extremely vulnerable when they lose access to information and services on sex and health, including contraception.
