As we mark World Refugee Day on 20 June, I would like to highlight the important work of the Inter-agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crisis (IAWG). IAWG is an international coalition of organizations and individuals working collectively to advance comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) as part of the sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health continuum in humanitarian settings. IAWG seeks to improve policies, strengthen practice, mobilize resources, and improve accountability.
Many PMNCH partners, including the International Rescue Committee (IRC), UNICEF, Family Planning 2030 (FP2030), Jhpiego and others are part of IAWG’s mission to issue evidence-based technical guidance, standards, and tools to inform SRHR service provision in humanitarian settings. IAWG evaluates the state of comprehensive SRHR issues in the field, documents and disseminates evidence, and advocates for the inclusion of SRHR in humanitarian programming and funding.
The coalition operates through sub-working groups, each focused on a specific SRHR-related issue, such as Maternal and Newborn Health, Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Rights, STIs/HIV, and more. IAWG has created many key guidance tools to support the delivery of essential SRHR services in crisis, such as the Inter-Agency Field Manual for Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings (IAFM), the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for SRH, the Inter-Agency Emergency Reproductive Health Kits (in coordination with UNFPA), The Newborn Health in Humanitarian Settings Field Guide, The SRH Clinical Outreach Refresher Trainings (S-CORTs) and the Adolescent SRH Toolkit.
As discussed at the PMNCH and CORE Group’s Lives in the Balance event on 19 May, 274 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2022. UNFPA estimated that in 2021, there were approximately 54 million women, girls, and young people in need of SRHR services, including 35 million women of reproductive age and over 4 million pregnant women. The 2022 World Refugee Day theme, Whoever. Wherever. Whenever. Everyone Has a Right to Seek Safety, is extremely timely and pertinent given a record high number of 56 active conflicts the world is experiencing, from Ukraine to Ethiopia, Afghanistan to Palestine.