Reproductive Health in Emergencies

This year there been two highly publicized humanitarian emergencies, the earthquake in Haiti and the ongoing flooding in Pakistan. The focus around emergencies like these is often on food and shelter; however the people affected by these disasters have needs much greater than that. One area that often gets neglected is reproductive health. Women do not stop having babies or needing reproductive health care during times of emergency. During the earthquake in Haiti groups helping people affected by the disaster worked to implement the Minimal Initial Service Package (MISP) for reproductive health services making sure that people had access to at least basic levels of reproductive health care. A recent evaluation of the implantation of the MISP has shown that in Haiti reproductive health was treated as a priority, but that challenges remain particularly with sexual violence, coverage of the services, and people’s knowledge of the availability of the services.

http://womensrefugeecommission.org/reports/cat_view/68-reports/74-reproductive-health

http://blog.populationinstitute.org/2010/08/13/reproductive-health-when-disaster-strikes/