Supply Chain Council of European Union | Scceu.org
Supply Chain Risk

How does climate change disproportionately affect women’s sexual and reproductive health?

by scceu0284

World sexual health day

It is not immediately obvious but climate change is closely linked to sexual and reproductive health of women and girls. It is for this reason that the UNFPA has been advocating to integrate climate change with sexual and reproductive health so that safeguards are available to women across communities all over the world.

Photo : iStock

Pakistan is reeling under its most devastating climate crisis yet. The floods this year have sent a third of the country underwater, according to the country’s climate change minister Sherry Rehman. Over a thousand people have died and there has been billions of dollars-worth damage to land and infrastructure. But one of the less apparent impacts of the catastrophy is on the country’s millions of women and girls who suffer disproportionately due to any climate crisis.
This week, a teenaged girl was confined, raped and tortured in the country’s flood-affected Sindh province. She also reportedly belonged to the minority Hindu community. She was lured by two men on the pretext of providing her relief supplies and gang raped.
Such incidents are not uncommon and when a crisis unfolds women and girls who are already vulnerable in a deeply patriarchal society like Pakistan, become more exposed to exploitation. It is tough for aid to reach remote or interior parts of the flooded areas where road connectivity has been snapped. The desperation for relief has sent male members scrounging for supplies and women too are out of the usual bounds of home or community to fend for themselves and their families.

Related News

Pakistan floods Over 1000 killed nearly 10 lakh homes destroyed or damaged 5-point update

Pakistan floods: Over 1,000 killed, nearly 10 lakh homes destroyed or damaged – 5-point update

Women and girls are not only at risk as they desperately search for flood relief, many families have been rendered homeless due to the floods and this lays them bare to the threat of gender-based violence – from assault to rape.

At a time when security is already scarce due to the deluge, and relief in terms of food is slow to reach the targets, medical aid for women of child bearing age is a distant dream.

According to U.N. officials quoted by media reports, among the 33 million people in the nation that have been impacted by the floods, roughly 8.2 million of them are women of childbearing age. The United Nations Population Fund estimates that at least 650,000 pregnant Pakistani women currently need prenatal care, and an estimated 73,000 are expected to give birth in the next month.
UNFPA, the sexual and reproductive health arm of the United Nations, said in a release that 1,000 health facilities are either partially or fully damaged in Sindh province, whereas 198 health facilities are damaged in affected districts in Balochistan.
“Pregnancies and childbirth can’t wait for emergencies or natural disasters to be over. This is when a woman and baby are vulnerable and need the most care,” the fund’s Pakistan representative, Dr. Bakhtior Kadirov, said in a statement.

Climate change and rising temperatures have given rise to extreme weather patterns. On one hand there are incessant rains during monsoon and on the other, the same regions witness relentless heat and drought in the summer season.

Women and girls, on whom much of the household duties fall in rural households, are forced to walk even greater distances for water as sources nearby dry up. This too puts them at risk of gender based crimes.

A 2021 study published in the National Library of Medicine which studied data from Kenya concluded that women are more susceptible to Intimate Partner Violence due to climate change as extreme events destroy largely agricultural income.

There is also the risk of girls being forced to drop out of schools due to the livelihood loss of parents because of climate change. The halt in education sets them up for early marriage often to much older men who bail their families out financially. The power balance is skewed in favour of the men in such marriages and again, the girls have little agency over their sexual or reproductive health and they are at greater risk of intimate partner violence.

Health services for women are usually impaired at the time of crisis and as a result many women give birth in the absence of medical support. Women and girls also do not have access to clean water or menstrual hygiene products at the time of natural disasters like a flood or drought.

It is not immediately obvious but climate change is closely linked to sexual and reproductive health of women and girls. It is for this reason that the UNFPA has been advocating to integrate climate change with sexual and reproductive health so that safeguards are available to women across communities all over the world.

Related posts

Portland Fire & Rescue says training, logistics facilities in dire need of upgrades | News

scceu

At RNC, Pocketbook Voters Articulate Trump’s Appeal | National News

scceu

Anchorage woman scammed by fake government employee

scceu