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As you read this, a pregnant woman in Gaza is choosing between saving her last piece of bread for the baby growing inside her and giving it to her starving toddler.

With so much chaos surrounding food distribution in Gaza, here’s what we know:

* Nearly 500,000 people in Gaza face crisis levels of hunger, including a rising number of pregnant women and children. They could starve to death at any moment.
* The few hospitals still operational have 2 days' worth of fuel left. All of them are facing severe shortages of essential medicines, blood supplies, and equipment. The healthcare system is 48 hours from complete collapse and soon, even the most basic care will vanish.
* Aid has begun reentering Gaza, but last week, the total amount was less than 20% of what’s needed.

Generous gifts from supporters like you have been a lifeline for women and girls surviving the nightmare in Gaza and have helped deliver lifesaving sexual and reproductive health supplies and services.

I want to lay out the connection between hunger and reproductive health further, but first, if you’re able, will you make a gift today? Your support can save lives and help our teams reach mothers and babies in need, distribute nutritional supplements to pregnant women, and deploy UNFPA midwives wherever care is needed most. [[link removed]?]

RUSH EMERGENCY CARE TO GAZA NOW [[link removed]?]

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“I treated a woman who had struggled with infertility for nearly seven years. She finally became pregnant during the war, but due to the impacts of the siege, a lack of proper nutrition, and the trauma of bombardment when she was forced to flee, she went into premature labor and lost her baby,” shared a UNFPA doctor in Gaza.

Poor birth outcomes are just one way hunger impacts reproductive health.

When women don’t have enough to eat, they can’t have healthy pregnancies. And in places where food is scarce, pregnant women struggle to find the extra 300-400 calories a day they need for their babies.

Ongoing hunger during pregnancy can lead to underweight and premature babies, who are more likely to suffer from developmental delays. Women are also more likely to experience life-threatening birth complications.

In Gaza right now, miscarriages and childbirth complications are up 300% compared with before October 7, 2023. And, 1 in 5 babies is born in need of advanced medical care, which is virtually nonexistent.

Right now, 11,000 pregnant women in Gaza are at risk of imminent famine. Our teams on the ground are doing everything they can to provide essential nutrients and maternal health services to these women. Before it’s too late, will you make a gift and deliver lifesaving care in Gaza and beyond? [[link removed]?]

RUSH MY LIFESAVING GIFT [[link removed]?]

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Hunger harms women and girls in other ways, too.

When food is scarce, women and girls often eat last and least. This can prevent girls from growing properly and impact their ability to learn in school.

One initiative we have worked hard to implement in displacement camps and food distribution sites across the globe are safe aid points. These points ensure women and girls actually get the food and support they need, while preventing violence toward women.

When aid primarily flows into the hands of men and boys, women and girls can be forced to engage in transactional sex to get access to food and other essentials. When women and girls receive the aid themselves, sexual and physical violence decreases.

The immediate dangers of hunger are clear, but the reality is that the consequences of not having enough to eat — physical and mental disabilities, a lost pregnancy, and trauma from surviving violence — can haunt women and girls.

Your support today can provide lifesaving sexual and reproductive health care and nutrition so women have healthier pregnancies, girls grow and learn, and all women and girls live safe from violence and abuse. Please, will you make a gift today? [[link removed]?]

We condemn the violence in Syria, Sudan, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel, and hope for a sustained humanitarian ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages by Hamas, and an end to the violence. The suffering must end and peace must prevail.

Thank you for being there for women and girls surviving hunger in Gaza and around the world.

Sincerely,

Anu Surendran [[link removed]]

Anu Surendran
Chief Executive Officer
USA for UNFP
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