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Nearly two million people in Gaza have been forced from their homes, many of them repeatedly, since October 2023. \u00a9Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFPA Palestine\/Media Clinic<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div> GAZA, Palestine<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 \u2018\u2018This story doesn’t start from day one. It starts from nine months ago \u2013 the day I learned I was going to be a mother.\u201d<\/p>\n That day was in November 2023, around a month into the war in Gaza. Ala\u2019a is among an estimated\u00a0155,000 pregnant women and new mothers<\/a><\/em>\u00a0in Gaza who for the past year have been forced to give birth under fire, in tents, while fleeing bombs, and often without assistance, medication or even clean water.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sound of the rockets and bombs was louder than my happiness, but I decided that with my little baby we would overcome all difficulties,\u201d she wrote in\u00a0a letter<\/a><\/em>\u00a0thanking the tireless health staff who helped her deliver her baby in a field hospital in Khan Younis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will survive whatever happens.\u201d<\/p>\n The situation for pregnant women in Gaza is catastrophic: Exhausted, weak from hunger, with health services nearly completely destroyed and none of the hospitals fully operational, they have few places to turn for care and treatment.<\/p>\n After\u00a0hundreds of attacks<\/a><\/em>\u00a0on medical facilities,\u00a0just 17 out of 36 hospitals<\/a><\/em>\u00a0are even partially functioning. Fuel and supplies are also running dangerously short, health-care workers are being killed or forced to flee, and those that remain are stretched thin. And this as the whole population is facing a surge in injuries, illnesses and diseases \u2013 including the\u00a0first case of polio<\/a><\/em>\u00a0in over 25 years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n More than 500,000 women in Gaza have lost access to vital services like pre- and postnatal care, family planning, and treatment for infections. Among them, over 17,000 pregnant women are on the brink of famine. Credit: UK-Med<\/p><\/div>\n <\/figure>\n \u201cAfter seven months, I was forced to leave my home and live in a tent,\u201d Ala\u2019a continued in her letter. \u201cI cried a lot, feeling that my brave baby would never see the walls of his room that I had always dreamed of preparing for him.\u201d<\/p>\n But her anguish didn\u2019t end there, as she was soon evacuated yet again. \u201cIt was a cry from the depths of my heart [that I had] to give birth out of my home,\u201d wrote Ala\u2019a. \u201cAfter fifty days I fled under fire, running, screaming and crying because of the bombs. At that moment, I feared I might lose my baby.\u201d<\/p>\n Some\u00a01.9 million people<\/a><\/em> are currently displaced in Gaza, many of whom have already been forced to move multiple times over the past year. Since the start of the war, miscarriages, obstetric complications, low birth weight and premature births are\u00a0reported to have risen<\/a><\/em>\u00a0at alarming rates, mainly due to stress, under- and malnutrition and a near-total lack of maternity care.<\/p>\n Recalling her time escaping the bombardments, Ala\u2019a wrote, \u201cWe are here, starting from nothing \u2013 no shelter, no home, not even a destiny. We built a tent again, and we promised each other again that we must survive, whatever happens.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Health workers in the field hospital run by humanitarian NGO\u00a0UK-Med, which has a specialized maternity unit supported by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFPA. Credit: UK-Med<\/p><\/div> \u201cTwo weeks later I felt some pain\u2026 It was labour pains! [I thought] \u2018No. It\u2019s too early, I want to give birth at home.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n After four days of labour, Ala\u2019a visited a field hospital in Khan Younis run by\u00a0UK-Med<\/a><\/em>, with funding from the UK Government and supported by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. \u201cI came for a check-up and everything was great,\u201d she continued. \u201cThe midwife and nurses were kind and warm. I spoke to Dr. Helen and she encouraged me to come and give birth there.\u201d<\/p>\n When the time came, they made sure Ala\u2019a delivered her baby safely. \u201cI went directly to the hospital at 2 a.m. and all the midwives were ready. But they told me there was no way for a natural birth, it was too dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFPA provides the hospital\u2019s maternity unit with reproductive health kits and supplies, and ensures staff can offer comprehensive care, including for obstetric emergencies.<\/p>\n Ala\u2019a and her newborn Mohammad have recovered well, despite the ongoing war and lack of clean water, food or security. \u201cIt was the best decision to come here to give birth,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI like that they smile all the time even though they are under pressure. They are a great team.\u201d<\/p>\n The impact of the war in Gaza on women and girls is staggering: More than\u00a0500,000 women\u00a0<\/a><\/em>have lost access to vital services like pre- and postnatal care, family planning and treatment for infections; over 17,000 pregnant women are in severe stages of hunger.<\/p>\n Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFPA and its partners are dedicated to providing reproductive health support, distributing life-saving medicines, medical equipment and supplies and deploying teams of midwives and health-care workers at both official and makeshift camps.<\/p>\n Six mobile maternal health units<\/a><\/em>\u00a0have also been set up in field hospitals to deliver emergency obstetric care to mothers and their newborns wherever they are. But it is impossible to provide continuous support without a ceasefire, full access to health services and sustained funding.<\/p>\n Despite all the hardships she has endured, Ala\u2019a refuses to lose heart. \u201cFrom Mohammad, my son, thanks for everything,\u201d she wrote, thanking the staff at the hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are grateful for you. I hope that we meet again in better times.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A mother with her newborn sits amid the rubble of their home, which was hit by an airstrike in Khan Younis. \u00a9Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵFPA Palestine\/Media Clinic<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n 25 September 2024 GAZA, Palestine\u00a0\u2013 \u2018\u2018This story doesn’t start from day one. It starts from nine months ago \u2013 the day I learned I was going to be a mother.\u201d That day was in November 2023, around a month into the war in Gaza. Ala\u2019a is among an estimated\u00a0155,000 pregnant women and new mothers\u00a0in […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[6926],"document-source":[2337],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,1769,1829,2033,1841],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-301700","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-stories","document-source-united-nations-population-fund-unfpa","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-children","document-subject-women","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/301700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/301700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301707,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/301700\/revisions\/301707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=301700"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=301700"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=301700"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=301700"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=301700"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=301700"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=301700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/h2>\n
The perils of displacement<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/h2>\n
A glimmer of light<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/h2>\n
Health care under fire\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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