Humanitarian Emergencies

UNFPA is the world’s leading agency providing life-saving maternal and reproductive health care in humanitarian crises. Even in stable settings, complications related to pregnancy and childbirth are among the leading causes of death for women of reproductive age. But in emergencies, health systems are weakened or often collapse altogether, making access to skilled birth attendants and emergency obstetric care dangerously limited. These gaps also increase the risk of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, particularly when access to condoms and testing and treatment options are disrupted.

Whether rebuilding delivery rooms in damaged health facilities, erecting temporary emergency obstetric units or deploying mobile clinics to reach isolated communities, UNFPA’s goal is clear: restoring access to care as quickly as possible. UNFPA trains, equips and deploys midwives and health workers to provide essential services, while also delivering comprehensive training on safe delivery practices, newborn care and emergency obstetric procedures. Health facilities are provided with safe blood transfusions, sanitizing equipment and HIV prevention supplies, including post-exposure prophylaxis to protect front-line workers.

Since 1998, UNFPA has played a critical global role in managing the supply of standardized reproductive health kits in humanitarian emergencies. These kits contain the medicines, equipment and supplies needed to meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of women, men and adolescents in the earliest days of a crisis. The kits range from clean delivery supplies and maternal and neonatal health essentials to support emergency obstetric care, to surgical equipment for setting up a fully functioning maternity ward, including for Caesarean sections. Additional kits provide family planning tools, treatment for sexually transmitted infections and resources for managing miscarriage and blood loss.

To address broader health and protection needs, UNFPA also distributes dignity kits containing essential hygiene supplies such as soap, menstrual products and basic clothing items – critical for women and girls navigating displacement. These are often accompanied by flashlights, whistles and information on available gender-based violence services, helping to increase access to support.

UNFPA moves rapidly, delivering these supplies within hours of a crisis. As conditions stabilize, we work with national and local partners, including the World Health Organization, to assess evolving needs and strengthen local supply chains to ensure reproductive healthcare is available in the face of future shocks.

Gender-based violence is widespread even during times of peace and is exacerbated during crises. In emergency settings, perpetrators of sexual violence are often able to act with impunity just as women’s and girls’ access to protection and support structures is cut off. 

Gender-based violence is one of UNFPA’s core areas of intervention, with a comparative advantage rooted in our integrated approach to prevention and response, which bridges protection and sexual and reproductive health. UNFPA works through health facilities – which are critical entry points for survivors – to provide comprehensive medical care, including post-rape treatment, psychosocial support and referrals for legal assistance.

Clinical management of rape: Survivors of sexual violence can be of any gender or age, but they are disproportionately women and girls. Rape carries severe physical, mental and social consequences for survivors, including depression and anxiety, HIV or other sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancies and stigma from family and community members. 

UNFPA trains healthcare providers to deliver compassionate, confidential and survivor-centred medical care, counselling and support. UNFPA also provides post-rape treatment kits and other supplies to health facilities, hospitals and trained providers and ensures that survivors have access to mental health and psychosocial support, legal assistance and other essential services.

Safe spaces for women and girls: Working with health authorities and social service providers, UNFPA supports safe spaces in humanitarian settings to ensure women and girls have  the support and security they need. These spaces serve as entry points for accessing medical care, psychosocial services and legal referrals.

Sexually transmitted infections: In crisis situations, multiple factors increase people’s vulnerability to contracting sexually transmitted infections, including the collapse of social and information networks, the disruption of family structures, limited access to condoms, and a rise in sexual violence and high-risk behaviours. As the world’s largest international supplier of condoms, UNFPA supports prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections through contraceptives, essential medicines and other supplies. UNFPA also supports the training of healthcare providers to recognize and diagnose symptoms, provide effective and confidential treatment and conduct outreach and information campaigns.

Coordination and leadership: Since 2017, UNFPA has been leading the gender-based violence area of responsibility, a global forum to coordinate prevention, risk mitigation and response in humanitarian settings. The forum, which functions as part of the Global Protection Cluster, provides inter-agency policy guidance to gender-based violence sub-clusters worldwide, supports response in non-refugee humanitarian crises and leads standard- and policy-setting for gender-based violence prevention and response.

The absence of voluntary family planning in emergencies – including condoms and emergency contraception – increases the risk of unintended pregnancies, endangers the health of pregnant women and may lead individuals to resort to unsafe abortions, with serious health consequences. UNFPA responds by providing modern contraception and training for healthcare providers and community outreach workers to ensure informed, respectful and timely care.

Half of the 1.4 billion people living in countries affected by crises and fragility today are under the age of 20, yet their unique needs – and their potential to contribute to recovery and resilience – are often overlooked in humanitarian response. Young people are not just recipients of aid, but often first responders and powerful agents of change who bring leadership, creativity and hope to their communities in times of crisis.

UNFPA is committed to ensuring that adolescents and young people in crisis settings are fully included in the humanitarian response – as informed participants, trusted partners and emerging leaders. Through youth-friendly spaces, training programmes and inclusive engagement strategies, UNFPA works to expand access to life-saving services, strengthen youth participation and create pathways for young people to influence the decisions that affect them. UNFPA co-leads the Compact for young people in humanitarian action, a global initiative that brings together more than 50 humanitarian actors to prioritize the rights, needs and leadership of young people in emergencies.

UNFPA is a leader in the safe, ethical and timely collection of data during humanitarian emergencies, ensuring that responses are grounded in evidence and tailored to realities on the ground. A key part of this work is coordinating the gender-based violence information management system, which supports humanitarian actors in capturing, analyzing and using data to understand evolving needs and inform service delivery. In crisis settings, where data on gender-based violence are often scarce, this system is essential for designing appropriate, survivor-centred interventions and advocating for stronger protection efforts.

UNFPA actively contributes to humanitarian policy and coordination through its engagement in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee – the main forum for collaboration on humanitarian assistance – helping to shape programming and standards that reflect the rights and needs of women and girls in emergencies.

 Updated 9 June 2025