Aissata's difficult journey to access maternal health care underscores the persistent challenges faced by women in Mali, highlighting the need for increased support and accessibility to essential services.

UNFPA's Palestine Representative Dominic Allen describe the heroic efforts of desperate medical staff helping women in Gaza give birth safely at the overcrowded Al-Emirati Hospital in Rafah as doctors run out of basic medical supplies.

One year on, reproductive health and protection services have yet to fully recover. Many women and girls still remain in temporary shelters – in both Türkiye and Syria – where risks of violence, sexual exploitation and abuse have soared, and where access to services and support to prevent and respond to gender-based violence are limited. 

Post-childbirth complications such as obstetric fistula have agonized women in Senegal, yet UNFPA and partners are aiding women to reclaim their dignity and rebuild their lives.

The only hospital in Yemen's Bani Saad district serves around 20,000 people who have to travel on foot or by camel for hours to reach it. Pregnant women take this journey to access skilled birth attendants, but home births are also risky due to a lack of qualified help. Yemen's healthcare system is devastated by nine years of civil war, leaving fewer than half of the country's hospitals functional, and only one in five can provide maternal and newborn services. The United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) appeal for funding to sustain programs for women and girls in 2023 was only 57% funded by the end of the year, which has severe consequences for women and girls in Yemen. With a fully funded appeal, UNFPA would be able to support more health facilities, improve the health outcomes for women and girls, and reduce preventable deaths.

Aspy Kamsing, eagerly anticipates graduation as she looks forward to pursuing her passion for midwifery, amid a rising demand for trained midwives in Laos underscored by UNFPA's acknowledgment of a shortage of nearly 1 million midwives globally.

The Ardamata clinic supported by UNFPA, reopens in Sudan, providing critical support for some 300,000 people, both those displaced within Sudan and from host communities.

The WHO global malaria strategy for malaria urges all malaria-endemic countries to accelerate progress towards the goal of elimination.

UNICEF has teamed up with spoken word artist @clickfortaz, in support of the 1 in 7 adolescents living with a mental health condition and to promote good mental health and well-being for all children and young people.

From the newly created UNRWA field hospital in Gaza, UNFPA is committed to providing them with much-needed support and supplies.

World Health Organization is raising awareness of the Guinea-worm disease through community sensitization and prevention methods to stop any further spread.

IOM’s newly rehabilitated Wadi Arafat health centre in Ta’iz is serving over 15,000 internally displaced people, after total collapse of Yemen's health infrastructure due to years of conflict.

The cycle of despair in 2023 seemed unstoppable yet crisis after crisis, there were accounts of the selfless and the heroic. Here are 8 stories of resilience and hope from 2023.

Investing in Afghan women and girls’ menstrual health, preserves their dignity, whose vulnerabilities are exacerbated by displacement and risks of gender-based violence.

The latest WHO report details the scale of global road traffic deaths, and progress in advancing laws, strategies and actions to reduce them around the world.