Bangkok – “Laying there in the cold and dark at the age of nine, I didn't know why my mum had to suffer this violence,” says Rachana Sunar, recalling a fearful childhood in Nepal’s far west, in a home where her father regularly beat her mother and discounted his six daughters. 

The teenage years are for some girls a time of exploration, learning and increasing autonomy. But for many others, it is a time of increasing vulnerability and exclusion from rights and opportunities, or just plain discrimination.

When a teenage girl has the power, the means and the information to make her own decisions in life, she is more likely to overcome obstacles that stand between her and a healthy, productive future. This will benefit her, her family and her community.

The international community has committed to a new sustainable development agenda built on the principles of equity and human rights.  A central objective of the Sustainable Development Goals is to leave no one behind.

Despite significant gains made in reducing poverty and improving opportunity and well-being for many people around the world, hundreds of millions remain desperate for a chance of a better future,  Among those least served by previous development initiatives are girls, particularly those in their formative teenage years.

Sexual violence, such as rape is often heightening in times of conflicts.  In order to prevent and manage possible health consequences, rape survivors must have access to clinical care, including supportive counseling, as soon as possible after the incident.

Sana’a-20 April 2016 – As the crisis has crippled lifesaving work in most governorates in Yemen, leaving 3.4 million women and girls of reproductive age vulnerable without access to basic health services, UNFPA sends new equipment to health facilities in most conflict affected areas.

In 2012, the Government of Germany (through KFW) provided EUR 8 million to UNFPA to implement the project “Reproductive Health Programme-Crisis Response” aiming to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity among populations in eight of the affected governorates in the country.

Sana’a, Yemen, 30 March 2016 – A year of intensification of the conflict in Yemen, has led to 21.2 million people requiring some form of humanitarian assistance, with nearly half of them being women and girls. UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund is increasingly concerned for the needs of an estimated 3.4 million women of reproductive age (between 15 and 49 years), of whom nearly 500,000 are pregnant and will give birth within the next nine months.

Sana’a, Yemen, 9 March 2016 – UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, estimates that at least 90,000 pregnant women are in Taizz City, with 4,500 of them facing the risk of dying due to complications during childbirth within the next nine months. Urgent care and medical supplies are needed to safeguard the health of pregnant women and their babies.

Sana’a, 23 February 2016 – The Government of Japan has contributed $1.5 million to UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, for its work in Yemen to protect women and girls from gender-based violence and to maintain their dignity.