EU funds €5 million in life-saving, essential care for women, girls fleeing Mosul

EU funds €5 million in life-saving, essential care for women, girls fleeing Mosul
By Rudaw 12 hours ago


ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — After European Union (EU) contributions totaling 5 million euros, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will establish three field maternity hospitals in addition to first line relief items to women and girls leaving Mosul.

“Through this EU partnership, UNFPA will provide much needed Reproductive Health services to more than 700,000 conflict affected women and girls in Iraq. Furthermore, over 120,000 newly displaced women and girls from Mosul will receive first line relief items, as part of the Rapid Response Mechanism Consortium which also includes UNICEF and World Food Programme (WFP)”, said Ramanathan Balakrishnam, the UNFPA representative in Iraq.

The 5 million euro contribution was made by the European Commission Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), allowing UNFPA to up-scale its frontline response.

The funds will contribute to UNFPA’s establishment and running of three field maternity hospitals for women especially fleeing intense fighting and strikes in western Mosul in need of lifesaving obstetrics emergency services and delivery options.

“Bringing back essential health services in conflict affected areas, in Mosul, is a priority for the EU. Pregnant women and displaced women and girls who have survived the hardship of conflict will receive much needed emergency medical services” said Javier Rio-Navarro, the EU Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) head of office in Iraq.

Similar services will be offered in Anbar, Kirkuk and Salahaddin provinces.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after the UN Secretary-General visited camps in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

Guterres said that the people of Mosul “have suffered enormously and they go on suffering,” and urged the international community to provide more support for the authorities in the Kurdistan Region to help improve conditions in the camps where hundreds of thousands of people have taken shelter since the arrival of ISIS some two and half years ago.

“There is a huge effort by the regional government [of Kurdistan], a huge effort by the NGOs, a huge effort by UN agencies but we don’t have the resources that are necessary to support these people,” Guterres added.

More than 400,000 people have been displaced since the Mosul operations began October 17, 2016, according statistics from the International Organization for Migration.

The Kurdistan Region has sheltered 155,117 Iraqis displaced by the Mosul offensive, Hoshang Mohamed, director of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Centre, told Rudaw before Guterres’ visit. Mohamed announced on Tuesday that the four camps in Erbil province, including Hassan Sham, are full and only limited space remains in Duhok province.