Some 5.5 million women of reproductive age, including pregnant and lactating women, face challenges accessing reproductive health services, especially in rural and frontline districts. This is due to the non-availability of specialized female doctors and nurses, insufficient essential medical supplies, and limited access to services. Restrictions on the movement of female aid workers across governorates has further compounded the situation in northern parts of the country.

Maternal mortality rates in Yemen remain high, with one woman dying in childbirth every two hours, mostly from causes that are entirely preventable. Fewer  than half of all births are assisted by skilled medical personnel and only one third take place in a health facility. Women of childbearing age, particularly pregnant and lactating women, have limited or no access to reproductive health support, including antenatal care, safe delivery services, postnatal care, family planning and emergency obstetric and newborn care.

Over 2.7 million pregnant and breastfeeding women are projected to require treatment for acute malnutrition in 2024. They risk giving birth to newborns with severely stunted growth and nursing malnourished infants due to rising food insecurity.

This is compounded by extreme shortages of essential medicines, supplies and specialized staff, as only one in five of functioning facilities is able to provide maternal and child health services.

UNFPA is working to strengthen the health systems to provide emergency obstetric and neonatal care and other lifesaving reproductive health services to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity.

Key Interventions 

• Ensure availability of lifesaving reproductive health commodities, medicines, supplies and equipment in health facilities.
• Ensure qualified health personnel are in place to provide reproductive health services in health facilities.
• Support mobile medical teams and clinics to enable them to provide reproductive health services that include; safe deliveries integrated with nutrition services for pregnant women as well as disease prevention information.
• Make family planning and birth spacing methods available and accessible to people through health facilities and mobile clinics.
• Provide skilled healthcare personnel, particularly midwives, at the community level.
• Lead coordination of reproductive health response through the Reproductive Health Inter-Agency Working Group under the Health Cluster