Have you heard of Bhasan Char? It’s a remote, cyclone-prone island in the Bay of Bengal where 20,000 Rohingya refugees live. It’s a desolate place. 

Bangladesh’s government is relocating refugees to this island to alleviate overcrowding in the sprawling refugee camps on its mainland. While residents of Bhasan Char are provided with housing, food and other basic services, they report despair at the isolation and the lack of jobs and community. These are people who fled violent persecution in Myanmar five years ago and are struggling to adjust to their displaced life—now in the middle of the sea.

But amidst so much hardship, these refugees can access comprehensive reproductive health care. Devoted Ipas-trained health workers like Shamoly Khatun (shown here) stay on the island—a multi-hour boat ride from the mainland—and provide family planning counseling, contraception, and safe abortion care at an Ipas-supported health center. We had a rare opportunity to photograph and interview Shamoly and some of the women she has served, and you can see their photo stories here. 

Today is International Safe Abortion Day. Around the world, people are taking action to protect abortion access in the face of deeply uncertain times.  

You can too. Please make a donation to Ipas. Refugees on Bhasan Char, and around the world, face myriad uncertainties. We’re working to ensure that reproductive health care isn’t one of them. Your support allows our teams to continue bold work to bring abortion access to the hardest-to-reach places.  

Together, we’ll keep fighting for every person’s right to reproductive health care—no matter who, no matter where. 

Thank you, 

Anu Kumar
Ipas President and CEO 

Photography by Fabeha Monir for Ipas