Resist and Persist: How Ipas will meet the changing global health landscape

April 2025

For 52 years, Ipas has supported communities around the world to ensure access to abortion and contraception for all. We have a deep history and experience working on abortion in places in the world with very restrictive laws, and with health systems that face critical challenges. Ipas has survived extraordinary challenges in the past, and our mission, persistence, and expertise are more critical than ever in the current moment.

The United States’ drastic dismantling of its $79.5 billion foreign aid program has significantly impacted development and humanitarian sectors and created chaos around the globe. Health systems have been crippled, and countless lives and livelihoods have been disrupted. This is a moment of inflection in the global health and development community.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/our-work/resist-and-persist-how-ipas-will-meet-the-changing-global-health-landscape/

DRC – Dr. Jean-Claude Mulunda: Breaking the silence on the need for safe abortion care in humanitarian settings

IPAS
Feb 28, 2025

Early in his career, Ipas Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) director Dr. Jean-Claude Mulunda, then a coordinator with a refugee agency, was confronted with the plight of women and girls who had suffered sexual violence fleeing Central African Republic for refuge in DRC.

“In my report to the supervisor, I noted that over 60% of the women and girls were rape victims. Many of them, including little girls who could not be more than 12, were pregnant. They were also dealing with sexually transmitted infections and malnutrition,” he explains.

Continued; https://www.ipas.org/news/drc-safe-abortion-care-in-humanitarian-settings/

Democratic Republic of Congo: At the forefront of the fight against gender-based violence

MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2023
HABYGAELLE MUZIE, Communications Advisor, Ipas

No matter the cause, humanitarian crises often mean an increase in sexual and reproductive health needs—yet access to safe abortion remains one of the most forgotten of those needs. Ipas Democratic Republic of Congo is making sure that access to abortion is included in humanitarian aid response to the devastating armed conflict in North Kivu.

North Kivu is in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an area marked by extremely violent conflict. Despite all diplomatic efforts, clashes between Congolese troops and an armed rebel group have displaced thousands of people who have been forced to flee their homes to take refuge in makeshift camps. This instability has led to the complete collapse of the health system and contributed to a precarious health situation—with women, girls and children being the most affected.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/country-impact/ipas-democratic-republic-of-congo-at-the-forefront-of-the-fight-against-gender-based-violence/

04.12.2023

Commentary

Doctors Without Borders

National Reproductive Health Program

sexual and reproductive health

sexual violence

Africa

Democratic Republic of Congo

Health

Human Rights

Urgent action required to address ‘plague’ of sexual, gender-based violence – Report

In 2022, 274 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection.

August 27, 2022

A toxic combination of global conflict, COVID-19 and climate change is exacerbating sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) against vulnerable women, children and adolescents worldwide, including in West Africa.

In a jointly authored commentary published today, three leading advocates for women’s health and rights – the Rt Hon. Helen Clark, PMNCH Board Chair and former Prime Minister of New Zealand; Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and former President of Chile; and H.E. José Manuel Albares, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Spain – call for urgent multi-lateral action to tackle what they have described as a ‘plague’ of rape, or other violent physical or mental abuse, targeting vulnerable women, children and adolescents, especially those living in humanitarian settings.

Continued: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/551027-urgent-action-required-to-address-plague-of-sexual-gender-based-violence-report.html

27.08.2022

Featured

News

gender-based violence

Ukrainian Victims of Wartime Rape May Be Forced To Give Birth—All Thanks to This U.S. Policy

4/27/2022
by CHRISTINE RYAN

Seeking protection from Russian bombing and shelling amidst a siege of their city, thousands of civilians in Bucha bunkered down in subways and basements. But for some, the reprieve from artillery was not enough. For women and girls, there was no shelter from the sexual violence inflicted by Russian soldiers.

Rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy are among the war crimes reportedly suffered by women and girls in Bucha and in wider Ukraine. Yet, the cruelty endured by these victims does not end there. Thanks to U.S. policy, abortion may be unavailable to these women and girls.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2022/04/27/ukraine-war-rape-helms-amendment/

27.04.2022

Featured

News

Abortion Is Health Care Everywhere Act

Women and girls escaping Ukraine and trapped there ‘must be provided’ with abortions and contraception

‘It is imperative that European governments ensure that their humanitarian assistance prioritises the sexual and reproductive health and human rights of women and girls,’ says campaigner

Maya Oppenheim, Women’s Correspondent
Friday 18 March 2022

Abortions and contraception must be provided to women escaping Ukraine and their reproductive health must be safeguarded, campaigners on the ground have warned.

More than 60 organisations, including Amnesty International and local groups in the region, voiced “grave concern” over the situation unfolding for women in Ukraine but also displaced women forced to flee to Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Moldova, and Romania.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-abortions-contraception-b2039245.html?r=78159

Why abortion should be treated as an essential health service in humanitarian emergencies

Nelly Staderini, Doctors Without Borders
February 10, 2022

According to data from the World Health Organization, each year there are seven million hospitalizations due to complications related to unsafe abortion methods. For this reason, access to voluntary termination of pregnancy in humanitarian contexts should be considered a matter of public health, although unfortunately this is not how it is usually interpreted. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) knows first-hand the consequences of unsafe abortion. I personally know of numerous cases of women who have died trying to use sticks, pins, or hangers to terminate a pregnancy. Others ingest soap or laundry detergent, and some are poisoned by herbs or medications that are not indicated for this purpose.

We usually work in contexts where it is very common to receive women who have tried to have an abortion in a medical consultation, although they also go to the emergency services. This fact has a huge impact on our staff. Regardless of the reasons a person may have for terminating a pregnancy, the medical consequences of an unsafe abortion are always the same.

Continued: https://plainsmenpost.com/why-abortion-should-be-treated-as-an-essential-health-service-in-humanitarian-emergencies-on-the-front-line-future-planet/

10.02.2022

Commentary

Featured

Doctors Without Borders

humanitarian aid

Médecins Sans Frontières

Nelly Staderini

self-managed abortion

traditional abortion methods

World Health Organization

Northern Ethiopia Crisis: Sexual and reproductive healthcare

By Julie Taft
20 January 2022

In the Northern Ethiopian regions of Tigray, Amhara and Afar, an estimated 5.2 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, and an estimated 3.5 million people from these regions have been displaced after more than a year of conflict, which began in November 2020. Among them are an estimated 118,000 pregnant women and 1.3 million women of reproductive age, with those figures set to grow with the ongoing crisis.

The dynamics of the conflict in northern Ethiopia remain complex and fluid, but one thing remains clear: at the heart of this crisis are millions of people in need, particularly women and girls.

Continued: https://guardian.ng/opinion/ethiopian-tigray-crisis-sexual-and-reproductive-healthcare-as-a-core-need/

OPINION: Sexual violence continues in conflict and so must our care for survivors

OPINION: Sexual violence continues in conflict and so must our care for survivors

by Alvaro Bermejo | International Planned Parenthood Federation
Thursday, 23 May 2019

In the humanitarian sector, we are often asked why sexual and reproductive healthcare is necessary in situations of conflict and fragility.

The answer is clear. Women and girls all too often bear the brunt of humanitarian crises. Lacking the usual protective measures such as the family unit or home, women and girls become more vulnerable to sexual violence. It can be more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in armed conflict.

Continued: http://news.trust.org//item/20190523081319-pgxho/

IAWG ANNUAL MEETING 2017 – Advocates make progress on access to safe abortion in humanitarian crises

IAWG ANNUAL MEETING 2017 – Advocates make progress on access to safe abortion in humanitarian crises
by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Jan 10, 2017

Advocates campaigning for refugees to have access to safe abortion in humanitarian settings say they have made major progress at a recent high-level meeting – but that “political sensitivities” among countries and some United Nations agencies are holding back efforts to get the full spectrum of sexual and reproductive health services to those who need them.

In early November 2017, representatives from the Inter-Agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crises (IAWG), which includes UN agencies and civil society groups, met in Athens to discuss revising the field manual for aid workers providing reproductive health services in the initial phase of a humanitarian crisis, called the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for Reproductive Health, which is part of the Inter-Agency Field Manual on Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings (IAFM). Intended changes included expanding the range of contraceptive options recommended and including safe abortion as an objective for the first time.

Continued at source: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/iawg-annual-meeting-2017-advocates-make-progress-on-access-to-safe-abortion-in-humanitarian-crises/