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In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the health and protection needs of women and girls are soaring, especially for expectant mothers. After conflict in the east of the country escalated, 5.5 million people are now displaced — including 220,000 pregnant women. One of those women is Ruboneka, who fled conflict to the Bulengo camp for internally displaced people. It was at that camp that she gave birth safely at the UNFPA-supported mobile clinic.
31,000+ women have delivered safely at more than 24 health facilities supported by UNFPA, and three mobile clinics like the one at the Bulengo camp are supporting many more women like Ruboneka through pregnancy and childbirth.
Trained midwives are averting preventable maternal deaths. On average, 15% of pregnant women will experience complications during pregnancy or birth, which can be life-threatening without access to trained staff and facilities providing emergency obstetric care. Midwives are quite literally a lifeline for women and girls. At the mobile clinic where Ruboneka gave birth, an average of four deliveries a day are being recorded. There have been no maternal deaths since it was set up in February 2023. Midwives provide holistic care in a crisis. As well as supporting tens of thousands of women and adolescent girls through childbirth each year and providing essential support both before and after birth, they provide family planning services and often are the first point of contact, and care, for survivors of violence against women. UNFPA aims to be there for every single woman and girl across the DRC. But to do that, we need to reach our funding goal this Mother’s Day so we can continue deploying midwives and delivering lifesaving care to women and girls.
Thank you for supporting this lifesaving work. — USA for UNFPA |
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