UNFPA is working with UN system and the international community to deliver a rapid and effective response to help the governments of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to stop the Ebola outbreak; treat the infected; ensure essential services; and prevent further outbreaks.
UNFPA is helping stop the outbreak by supporting contact-tracing to track infected persons and refer them to the appropriate health facilities. It aims to increase the number of contact tracers in Liberia and Sierra Leone from the current 5,000 to around 20,000 in the next 60 days.
UNFPA is supplying protection equipment, such as gloves, bleach and masks, and promoting community awareness for health seeking behaviours through radio and television campaigns and one on one communications.
Women are exposed to and infected by Ebola at higher rates than men. They care for, feed and bathe infected loved ones and are the front-line health workers. UNFPA calls for their needs and participation to be prioritized in any Ebola response.
Pregnant women, in particular, face a double threat: dying from Ebola and from pregnancy or childbirth. UNFPA calls upon the international community to urgently address the unique needs of pregnant women and girls.
More than 800,000 women in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone would give birth in the next 12 months. All will require antenatal, delivery and postnatal care, as well as referral to related emergency obstetric support, in case of obstetric complications. But many pregnant women are afraid to visit, or are turned away from, overstretched health facilities, which puts them and their babies’ lives at risk.
Of these women, more than 120,000 could face obstetric complications that may be life-threatening, if the required life-saving emergency obstetric care is not provided.
With the collapse of the health systems in the affected countries, many health facilities are no longer providing health services to pregnant women. As a result, any complications that are easily treatable in normal circumstances could potentially become life-threatening.
UNFPA is providing reproductive health supplies and midwives to ensure safe deliveries.
About 1.2 million women of childbearing age may lack access to the family planning services they require. This increases unexpected pregnancies.
UNFPA estimates that$78 million is needed to provide reproductive and maternal health services in the next three months in the three countries.