Ensuring Reproductive Health in Conflict and Emergencies

Keynote Speech

Jesse Rattan Director of the SAF-PAC Initiative (Supporting Access to Family Planning
and Post-Abortion Care in Emergencies), CARE

Moderator

Thomas Haunschmid Senior Communication Manager, CARE

Panel Members

Beris Gwynne Director Global Capitals and Partnership Leader for Global Accountability, World Vision
Jesse Rattan Project Director SAF-PAC Initiative, CARE
Liz Sime Regional Director Pacific Asia, Marie Stopes Australia
Nelly Staderini Reproductive Health Advisor, MSF Switzerland

Although reproductive health services are among the most important life-saving interventions in times of crisis, these services were long overlooked in the traditional humanitarian response to complex emergencies. Response agencies argued that these services were not as critical as other life-saving interventions, and that they were more appropriate in long-term development contexts. And yet, the need for family planning and reproductive health services is particularly acute in disaster-affected and post-conflict settings; in these settings, health systems may have collapsed, families and communities may be dispersed, health workers and supplies may be scarce, and sexual violence is common.
How will we meet the unmet need for family planning and reproductive health services when disasters and chronic conflict threaten to wipe out any gains we make?