Since 2018, the Center and its partners at the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) have studied and documented the effects of the Boko Haram conflict on SRHR in Northeast Nigeria. The Center’s new report, entitled “The Conflict in Northeast Nigeria's Impact on the Sexual and Reproductive Rights of Women and Girls,” highlights key findings from its extensive work in the Nigerian states of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, and Abuja. This report calls upon the Nigerian government to take immediate measures to comply with its international and regional human rights obligations. A critical first step is providing access to maternal health care services, abortion, and other reproductive health services for women and girls living in conflict zones. Through fieldwork, documentation, and more than 150 on-the-ground interviews, representatives from the Center and LEDAP found that women and girls affected by conflict are particularly vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence, including rape, sexually transmitted infections, sex trafficking, forced marriage, and forced and unintended pregnancy. They are also at greater risk of other SRHR violations, including mistreatment while seeking maternity care in health facilities and maternal deaths.
Learn about how IAWG's history and mission primed our coalition for a year of growth and success in 2019.
We honor the life and work of our friend and colleague Jennifer Schlecht.
Take a look at our key accomplishments from 2019.
Zero Unmet Need: Advancing Contraceptive Access in Crisis Settings
IAWG Voluntary Contraception Sub-Working Group Online WebinarWhen a crisis strikes, women and girls need lifesaving sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services, including contraception. The Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for SRH, the internationally accepted standard of care for SRH in emergencies, mandates the provision of contraceptive services from the outset of a crisis. Evidence shows that women and girls affected by crises want and need access to contraception, and will use it when available. Yet access to contraception remains a critical gap in humanitarian settings.
Technical Guidance on GBV services during COVID-19
Pathfinder InternationalPathfinder developed this technical guidance to guide MOHs, policymakers, service providers, and other implementing partners on how to continue to safely deliver GBV services during COVID-19.
This guidance provides technical assistance for establishing mobile and remote support for gender-based violence survivors, including case management, psycho-emotional support, and referrals.
Navigating the Crisis Landscape: Engaging the Ministry of Health and United Nations Agencies to Make Abortion Care Available to Rohingya Refugees
Ipas | Tamara Fetters, Sayed Rubayet, Sharmin Sultana, Shamila Nahar, Shadie Tofigh, Lea Jones, Ghazaleh Samandari & Bill PowellThis case study translates evidence-based findings into common practice and documents the first time legal induced abortion care, in the form of menstrual regulation in Bangladesh, has been offered and brought to scale during an acute emergency. We provide evidence in this article that abortion is not too complicated to provide in humanitarian settings. These findings can be used by academics and practitioners alike to advocate for increased and earlier attention to, or resources for, abortion services in humanitarian settings, to inform Ministry of Health strategies to improve abortion access, and to ultimately reduce the burden of unsafe abortion and unwanted pregnancy in fragile and conflict-affected areas around the globe.
This brief outlines emerging evidence of COVID-19's impact on gender-based violence experienced by women and girls globally. Interventions are recommended for the UN, governments, and local actors.
This webinar summary report highlights key takeaways from interviews from community organizations at the humanitarian-development-peace nexus in adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Strengthening human resource capacity is essential for ensuring the provision of routine quality sexual and reproductive health services during and after emergencies. This panel shared experiences and lessons learned to strengthen health systems to improve governance and safety of midwifery practice in Afghanistan, to strengthen health system response to sexual violence in Jordan, and to improve emergency preparedness for SRH in the Philippines.