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Menstruation is not only an issue of , but also a matter of . 

Akib Dahir, 27, arrived at the Gabi’as displacement camp with her eight children, after losing 180 goats and 15 camels to the drought. Her husband spends hours in the baking heat on an increasingly desperate hunt for pasture and water to keep their few remaining animals alive. “We are trying to save all we have,” she said. “The animals are almost worthless in the market. We can’t even feed our children.” The last three rainy seasons failed one after the other, blighting the lives and livelihoods of nearly 8 million people across and pushing eastern and southern areas of the country to the brink of famine. More than 286,000 people have been forced from their homes in search of survival as crops, livestock, and the hope of putting food on the table are all wiped out.

. For millions, this most natural of the reproductive cycle functions can equate to abuse, stigma, missed opportunity and loss of dignity. To support menstrual health and hygiene, has included thousands of kits as part of the humanitarian response to conflict and natural disasters.  seeks to advance menstruation as a biological process and to eliminate feeling fear or shame or being exposed to more vulnerabilities. It also raises awareness of , or the inability to afford menstrual supplies.

Obstetric fistula is a devastating childbirth injury, which also results in stillbirth in 90 percent of cases. The encouraging news is that obstetric fistula is not only treatable but preventable.  leads efforts to in more than 55 countries in prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. This year’s International Day to End Obstetric Fistula highlights the need for investment towards quality healthcare to empower communities. Obstetric fistula is not only a development and public health issue, but also a human rights issue, granting the right to health and a life of dignity.

Skilled health professionals and timely, quality emergency obstetric care can help prevent the devastating childbirth injury of obstetric fistula. Find out more about it at 

Nearly half of all pregnancies are unintended. presents how unintended pregnancies can contribute to the shame, stigma and misunderstandings that must be overcome to end this crisis.

This , we invited parents into our studio to read stories of mothers from around the world. Watch what happens next…

Midwives everywhere step up for women and newborns. The University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan began working with to  for local health personnel.

One of the winning ideas of is solar-powered motorcycles to reach pregnant women at home. Winners receive seed funding and a six-month incubation programme.

During a humanitarian crisis, the conditions that erode women’s ability to exercise bodily autonomy and reproductive choice increase catastrophically, multiplying the risks of unintended pregnancy.

Valentina Ejova breathed a sigh of relief only when she crossed the border. In both Ukraine and neighbouring countries hosting refugees,  is distributing dignity kits among other services.

For the third year in a row, Yemen is the country needing the most humanitarian funding support in the world. Of the 20.7 million people needing assistance, 12 million are in acute need. Though last year’s $100 million humanitarian appeal was only half funded, reached nearly 2.8 million people with reproductive health services and emergency relief.  Without additional funding, nearly 1.3 million women will be left without access to reproductive health care and protection and psychosocial support.

11th-grader Viktoria Kravets has had to set aside textbooks for now and is helping her countrymen as a volunteer registering refugees with Tvory Volunteering Centre, which works with Molodvizh, a peer-to-peer youth organization and partner. About a third of her friends and relatives have left Ukraine. But she's staying: "I never thought I would be involved in this kind of activity – helping hundreds of people a day looking for transport to the border or distracting them from horrible thoughts.”

Nearly half of all pregnancies, totalling 121 million each year throughout the world, are unintended. For the women and girls affected, the most life-altering reproductive choice—whether or not to become pregnant—is no choice at all, explains the , by . A world where every pregnancy is wanted is a UNFPA core goal. Here are seven myths about unintended pregnancy that contribute to the shame, stigma and misunderstandings that must be overcome to end this crisis.

Elena and her teenage daughter Tatiana fled the war in Odessa, Ukraine to seek shelter in Chișinău, Moldova. To this day, more than 3 million Ukrainians have crossed borders into neighboring countries. Like Elena and Tatiana, most of them are women and children who left their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons behind. on how is taking action to respond to their needs. UNFPA’s priority now is to safeguard the health and rights of women and girls, including to give birth safely and to live free from violence and abuse. #Withrefugees