With generous funding totaling $15.8 million in 2022, the support of the United States is enabling UNFPA to continue safeguarding the health and well-being of women and girls.   

Amman/Cairo, 23 November 2022 — Since March 2022, the generous support of the United States has allowed UNFPA to continue its life-saving work in communities impacted by the Syria crisis, including those accessed cross-border via Türkiye and refugees and host communities throughout Türkiye, Jordan, and Iraq.

The support of the United States comes in the form of several grants totalling $10,560,000 in funding between July 2022 and July 2023, provided by the US Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), and $5,265,000 in funding between March 2022 and April 2023 through the US Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). The funding has been critical to the continued delivery of quality sexual and reproductive health services to women and girls in need, in addition to services designed to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. The United States is also supporting the delivery of cash and voucher assistance to women who are at risk or survivors of violence. 

“As Americans throughout the world celebrate Thanksgiving, UNFPA is giving thanks to the United States for supporting our programs serving communities impacted by the Syria crisis, which entered its twelfth year in 2022,” said Laila Baker, UNFPA Arab States Regional Director. “This support has enabled UNFPA and its partners to continue safeguarding the health and well-being of women and girls surviving one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time.”

In 2022, Syrian communities throughout the region experienced one of the worst years of this protracted crisis, made worse by a collapsing economy and the war in Ukraine, which has shifted focus from many of the world’s other ongoing crises. In addition to the 14.6 million people in need of assistance inside Syria, around 5.6 million people have taken refuge in neighboring countries, where they continue to face heightened protection risks, marginalization, and worsening socio-economic conditions. For women and girls, the cumulative impact has been catastrophic, upending decades of progress on women’s issues and bringing unprecedented risks that have fundamentally altered their realities.

Between January and September 2022, as part of its regional response to the crisis, UNFPA delivered sexual and reproductive health services to 1.2 million people, while 574,000 were reached with services designed to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, including nearly 200,000 adolescent girls. Approximately 126,000 women were provided with cash assistance and more than 8,000 LGBTQI+ individuals were served. With the support of the United States, UNFPA will continue building on these achievements for the rest of the year and into 2023, with a focus on building access, resilience, and sustainability.

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About UNFPA

UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. UNFPA's mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA calls for the realization of reproductive rights for all and supports access to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services, including voluntary family planning, quality maternal health care, and comprehensive sexuality education.

For more information, please contact:

In Cairo: Samir Aldarabi, Regional Media Adviser for the United Nations Population Fund for the Arab States Region, +201068484879, aldarabi@unfpa.org

In Amman: Jafar Irshaidat, Communications Specialist, United Nations Population Fund / Regional Humanitarian Hub for Syria and the Arab States, +962797300157, irshaidat@unfpa.org