Just under a year ago, torrential rains flooded the streets in Peru’s northwestern Piura district, interrupting city services and trapping people in their homes. For 30-year-old mother-of-two Miryam, it added another level of anxiety to her pregnancy.

Getting to check-ups became difficult — the dirt roads in her neighborhood were waterlogged and there was no money for alternate transport. Even worse, plagues of rats, flies, and mosquitoes had arrived with the floods, bringing with them the threat of water-borne disease.

“We had to disinfect everything. But I still caught dengue fever,” Miryam told UNFPA.

Miryam had already been told that her pregnancy would require special attention, given she’d delivered her first two children via C-section. Doctors warned a third surgery could be risky. She was struggling to get the care she needed — that is, until she heard a knock at the door.

A midwife from the UNFPA-supported Saving Lives project visited her that day. As thousands of women like Miryam were prevented from visiting health centers due to flooding, economic issues, and caretaking duties, your gifts helped bring care to their doors.

Will you add a gift to deploy more midwives to assist safe childbirths around the world?

Since May 2023, trained midwives have been visiting women like Miryam across the flood-affected regions of Peru. Midwives have been able to identify and support nearly 150 pregnant women with services like prenatal check-ups, and enable more than 4,500 women to access sexual and reproductive health services.

Midwives save lives — and yet, the world has far too few of them. Nearly 1 million are missing from the workforce, despite being able to meet about 90% of global need for essential sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, and adolescent health interventions.

As climate emergencies like the weather events in Peru become more common, they’ll continue to present particular dangers for women and girls by cutting off access to essential sexual and reproductive health services.

The work of midwives will become all the more critical, so we need your help to continue deploying them around the globe.

Will you make a gift today to deliver midwives and ensure safe childbirths wherever help is needed most?

Thank you for supporting women and girls and being a part of this critical work.

— USA for UNFPA