A bold call for $1.4 billion in emergency funding to provide sexual and reproductive health services for over 45 million people living in crisis-affected countries has been issued, underscoring the acute challenges faced by women and girls amid escalating global crises. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) launched this appeal as part of its effort to address an urgent resource gap that is putting lives at risk, with a specific focus on life-saving reproductive health care and programs to prevent gender-based violence (UN News).
This latest UNFPA announcement comes at a time of unprecedented humanitarian need. In 2024 alone, a record 122.6 million people were forcibly displaced by conflicts, disasters, and climate shocks—half of whom are women and girls. The agency estimates that some 11 million pregnant women will need urgent support in 2025, facing conditions where the risks linked to pregnancy and childbirth are dramatically heightened by violence, displacement, and disrupted health services.
For Thai readers, these figures are grim reminders of the far-reaching impacts of global disruptions that have often touched close to home—whether through ongoing strife in neighboring Myanmar or climate-related emergencies across Southeast Asia. Thailand, a long-standing participant in regional humanitarian assistance, also hosts thousands of refugees and displaced persons. As such, the funding gap outlined by UNFPA is not a remote global issue, but rather one with significant resonance for the Thai public sector, NGOs, and civil society working on the frontlines of cross-border humanitarian response (UNCHR Thailand operations).
The report reveals that despite enormous humanitarian needs, there is a staggering 75 percent shortfall in resources across 34 crisis situations worldwide. “With this funding appeal, we are calling on the international community to invest in the health and dignity of women and girls caught in crisis, and to help build a future free from fear and violence,” said the UNFPA Executive Director. This gap in funding has already resulted in countless women and girls being left without access to critical services, often resulting in severe or even fatal outcomes.
Crises such as war, displacement, and natural disasters disproportionately endanger the health and safety of women and girls. Access to basic reproductive health resources—including prenatal and postnatal care, safe childbirth facilities, family planning, and sexual violence response—often becomes severely limited. Experts agree that in these environments, rates of maternal mortality, adolescent pregnancies, and sexual violence surge. “Pregnancy and childbirth become life-threatening in emergencies, and rates of rape and other gender-based violence escalate sharply,” UNFPA highlights.
Despite these obstacles, UNFPA delivered reproductive health support to more than 10 million people in crisis-affected countries in 2024 and facilitated prevention and response services for gender-based violence benefiting 3.6 million individuals. The agency deployed networks of thousands of midwives and medical teams to humanitarian hotspots, equipped over 3,500 health centers, and established 1,600 safe spaces for women and girls. Such scale underscores both the depth of need and the effectiveness of targeted humanitarian intervention when properly resourced (UNFPA Humanitarian Action).
For regional actors and authorities in Thailand, these developments reinforce the critical value of preparedness, both domestically and within the context of collective ASEAN disaster response. UNFPA’s new strategy for 2025 prioritizes strengthening local and national emergency response capacity—including increasing the proportion of humanitarian funding to local and women-led organizations from 35 percent to 43 percent. This focus aligns with advocacy among Thai public health and civil society organizations, which have emphasized community-led resilience and the empowerment of local actors as keys to effective crisis responses (ReliefWeb: Localising humanitarian response).
On a practical level, UNFPA is positioning emergency medical supplies at hubs around the world to enable more rapid and effective responses when disaster strikes. Early action and swift deployment of resources have been shown to dramatically improve outcomes for women and girls—especially in rural, hard-to-reach, or conflict-affected areas.
In terms of cultural context, bodily autonomy, and gender equity, the issue of reproductive health during emergencies intersects with longstanding Thai values related to family, community mutual aid (kalayana mittata), and merit-making (bun khun), as well as modern constitutional guarantees of universal health care. Given Thailand’s mixed record on sexual rights and gender-based violence prevention, this global appeal offers a reminder of the work yet to be done to ensure no one is left behind—especially in times of crisis (Human Rights Watch Thailand: Women’s Rights).
Looking forward, global humanitarian leaders warn that the dual pressures of more frequent extreme weather events and ongoing conflicts will continue to drive displacement and disrupt health systems unless the funding gap is addressed. For Thailand, whose northern and northeastern provinces are increasingly vulnerable to flooding and drought, as well as the spillover effects from regional instability, strengthening reproductive health services and gender-based violence prevention in crisis scenarios should be an urgent priority for policymakers and development partners alike (Bangkok Post: Disaster management).
For Thai readers, this means supporting international calls for increased humanitarian funding—not only through government pledges, but also by bolstering civil society, professional associations, and community networks that can deliver care where it is most urgently needed. Moreover, with Thailand’s significant experience in health systems strengthening, the country can serve as a model for integrating reproductive health resilience into national and regional disaster response plans.
As global displacement expands and crises intensify, the call to invest in the health and dignity of vulnerable women and girls is growing more urgent. Thai families, advocates, and institutions can contribute by championing improved resource allocation, supporting NGOs and frontline health workers, and participating in community-driven preparedness efforts—ensuring that the most fundamental rights to health, safety, and dignity are upheld for all, even in the darkest times.
Sources: UN News, UNFPA Humanitarian Action, UNHCR Thailand, ReliefWeb, Human Rights Watch Thailand: Women’s Rights, Bangkok Post: Crisis Management