DOMIZ 2, Iraq – “I never thought I would have to start over,” Nermin* told UNFPA from Domiz 2 Camp in Iraq.  She was 21 when she was uprooted from her hometown in Qamishli by the horrors of the Syrian conflict. It was 2012, and she had been studying to become a teacher. “The war forced me to choose between my dream and my life,” she said. She travelled with her parents and siblings to a refugee camp in Dohuk, a city...

The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) took place in Cairo in 1994. 179 world leaders reached a consensus and adopted a  programme of action, which enshrined individual reproductive rights as a basic human right. For the first time, the ICPD shifted the focus from demographic targets to human lives. Leaders promised universal access to reproductive health services and information, and vowe...

On the International Day of the Midwife, UNFPA sheds light on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen which caused two thirds of reproductive health facilities to stop working. This puts the lives of millions of mothers and newborns on the line. Trained midwives can prevent two thirds of all avoidable maternal deaths.  Without adequate support, pregnancy and childbirth become just as life threatening as shells and bullets....