The USD 2.3 million grant to UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund was allocated on 4 March 2015 by the Government of Japan to reduce maternal mortality, morbidity from sexual and reproductive health issues in conflict affected communities, especially for internally displaced persons (IDPs), of the North-East region of Nigeria.

The project titled “Strengthening Sexual and Reproductive Health Service Provision in Conflict affected Communities in North-East Nigeria” will improve access to sexual, reproductive health, maternal and newborn health services, management of sexual violence survivors including prevention of and response to sexual/gender based violence in the conflict affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Gombe.

The humanitarian situations in the North Eastern States continue to deteriorate due to the ongoing insurgency and counterinsurgency operations. As an illustration, a multi-agency needs assessment conducted in 2014 under the leadership of the United Nations office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reveal that in the three States of Emergency (Borno, Adamawa and Yobe) 15,562,083 people have been directly affected by the humanitarian situation while 646, 693 are internally displaced persons across the North East region. In January this year, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reported 981,416 IDPs a figure that is expected to significantly increase following the escalation of hostilities. In a crisis like this, access to sexual and reproductive health services is limited and it is imperative to put measures in place that provide significant support and care to the most vulnerable groups, Women and Children.

The grant provided by the Government of Japan will scale up UNFPA’s ongoing response to the humanitarian situation in the North-East which targets a total caseload of about 7.1 million people including 42,400 pregnant women and 8, 100 skilled birth attendants.

The Government of Japan and the United Nations Population Fund renew their commitment to cooperate with the people and Government of Nigeria to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.