The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) launched a $ 12 million humanitarian appeal late Thursday to improve deteriorating health and safety conditions for women and girls in northeastern Mozambique.
In a statement, the UN authority said it was urgent to provide life-saving sexual and reproductive health services to 330,000 women, girls and young people affected by the humanitarian crisis in the province of Cabo Delgado, as well as by the secondary effects of the coronavirus pandemic .
An armed militant group believed to be affiliated with the Daesh terrorist organization has been wreaking havoc in northern Mozambique since late 2017, killing hundreds of people, displacing communities and capturing cities.
The group is known locally as al-Shabab but has no established links to the armed militant group of the same name in Somalia. It says it wants to establish a so-called “Islamic caliphate” in northern Mozambique, where it has exploited people’s desperate poverty and unemployment to recruit in large numbers.
The Agency also called on the international community to increase funding as women, girls and young people face an increased risk of gender-based violence.
“Cabo Delgado is experiencing the perfect storm of conflict, cyclones, COVID-19 and cholera – and women and girls are bearing the brunt of these crises. objects or access to services to take care of their health, hygiene or safety, “said Andrea M. Wojnar, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Mozambique.
“Even before the current crisis, Cabo Delgado’s women and girls were very vulnerable, with only one in five girls being married or in a trade union using contraception – one of the lowest in Mozambique. The province also has the highest pregnancy rate among young people aged 15. – 19 years and the second highest proportion of child marriage in the country, Wojnar added.
Violence and lack of health care have internally displaced more than 669,000 people on February 10, 2021, including about 160,000 women of reproductive age who may face unwanted pregnancies and increased risk of HIV and sexually transmitted disease without family planning support, according to the International Organization for migration (IOM).
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