Safe abortion care is a blind spot in humanitarian responses and is severely lacking, says Sandra Krause of the Women's Refugee Commission.
"Researchers at the Women's Refugee Commission found that women often left hospitals less than 24 hours after giving birth, some having had a Caesarean section."
Displacement due to conflict or natural disaster can often disrupt social systems and tear families apart, Jennifer Schlecht, Senior Program Officer of Reproductive Health Programs at the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC), told Romper.
"When a mother chooses to carry her baby on a boat across the Mediterranean, to flee across dangerous terrain, or travel in a truck to cross the dessert, all to resettle in a camp or unfamiliar city, the desperation they must feel is undeniable," she said. "As a mother, there is not an ounce of me that can imagine the ache one must feel in your heart when making these risky choices."
The mission of the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) is to improve the lives and protect the rights of women, children, and youth displaced by conflict and crises. We welcome the emphasis on Children on the Move at this year’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges and the central role that young people themselves will have during the Dialogue. This underscores the importance of consulting directly with children and adolescents to understand their specific protection concerns and proposed solutions. We hope the Dialogue will result in a collective commitment to concrete actions that will improve protection for children on the move.
The special need for quality maternal health services in fragile settings has been established by various protocols, including the International Conference on Population and Development Program of Action, adopted by 179 countries in 1994, and the concept of Minimum Initial Service Packages, advanced by the United Nations Population Fund and others.
However, the conditions in fragile settings are changing, and too many mothers – especially adolescents – still lack access to quality care.
As part of our “Experts to Watch” series, we highlight nine people – from veterans to youth leaders – who are working to help bring family planning services to the women who need them, using research, policy and interventions to advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and girls worldwide.