A new High-Level Commission of advocates, experts and activists was established today to help commitments to women’s health and rights made at the November 2019 Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 stay on track, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is blocking access to essential services, such as family planning and antenatal care.

Every year, millions of girls are subjected to practices that harm them physically and emotionally, with the full knowledge and consent of their families, friends and communities, according to the State of World Population 2020, released today by UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency.

29 June 2020, NEW YORK, USA – Millions of Syrian women and girls continue to suffer from gender-based violence (GBV), harassment and increasingly restricted access to life-saving sexual and reproductive health services, warns UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, ahead of tomorrow’s Syria conference in Brussels, Belgium. As the conflict enters its 10th year, UNFPA is appealing for urgent funding to meet critical reproductive health and protection needs of women, adolescent girls and young people affected by the Syria crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. The total funding requirements amount to $137 million for inside Syria and neighbouring countries.

Prezi, a leading visual communications software company, and UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, have launched a joint COVID-19 awareness campaign to encourage and equip young people to lead the charge against the pandemic. UNFPA and Prezi are teaming up with global youth organisations to encourage young people to take action by staying informed and doing their part to flatten the curve of the infection – and urging their peers to do the same.

More than 48,000 women could die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth in Yemen, the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, due to severe funding shortages and the possible closure of reproductive health facilities, amidst rising risks posed by COVID-19. To save lives, UNFPA is calling for urgent funding of $59 million to provide lifesaving reproductive healthcare and women’s protection services until the end of 2020. An additional $24 million is needed for the COVID-19 response to protect health workers and women and girls accessing reproductive health services in the conflict-affected country.

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, the number of women unable to access family planning, facing unintended pregnancies, gender-based violence and other harmful practices could skyrocket by millions of cases in the months ahead, according to data released today by UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency.

NEW YORK, USA - Approximately a quarter of women cannot refuse sex or make their own decisions about accessing proper health care, a major international study has found. UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, today released groundbreaking new research revealing how far the world has come in allowing women and girls to make informed decisions about their reproductive rights.

UNFPA expresses increasing concern about the women and girls trapped in the escalating humanitarian situation in Syria, especially in the north-west, as the conflict enters its 10th year.

UNFPA needs $683 million to urgently provide life-saving reproductive health and protection services in 57 conflict-affected countries.