BANGUI, The Central African Republic – A €5 million funding injection from Italy to UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, will strengthen maternal and neonatal health services at the Central African Republic’s sole referral hospital for neonatal and paediatric care, the Paediatric University Hospital Complex of Bangui.

The funding, provided by the Italian Agency for Development, will support the renovation and expansion of the hospital’s neonatology wing, doubling its admission capacity, and furnish the health centre with modern medical equipment, bringing it up to international standards.

The UNFPA-supported initiative will enhance health workers’ ability to respond to medical challenges such as complicated births and meet increasing demand for maternal and neonatal health care, which has increased significantly amid humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic. The new funding will also create and equip a safe space for women, including survivors of gender-based violence, in the hospital.

Maternal and neonatal mortality constitute major public health problems in the Central African Republic. According to UNFPA research, nearly one third of deaths among the country’s women of reproductive age are due to pregnancy and childbirth, and its neonatal mortality rate ranks among the highest in the world.

UNFPA, in collaboration with Italy, is committed to reducing maternal and neonatal mortality over the next three years of the project by delivering quality maternal and neonatal care in tandem with infrastructure rehabilitation. To this end, the project will support the training of 131 midwives, nurses, health personnel and medical and paramedical professionals. The aim is to enable the hospital to admit 4,300 newborns each year and provide more than 1,500 mothers with information and sexual and reproductive health and newborn care services every year.

Italy was one of UNFPA’s top 20 donors in 2023, and continues to be an advocate to end gender-based violence and safeguard sexual and reproductive health and rights for all.