UN POPULATION FUND SENDS MATERNAL HEALTH SUPPLIES TO ORISSA CYCLONE VICTIMS, IN RESPONSE TO GOVERNMENT APPEAL

Press Release
POP/746*

UN POPULATION FUND SENDS MATERNAL HEALTH SUPPLIES TO ORISSA CYCLONE VICTIMS, IN RESPONSE TO GOVERNMENT APPEAL

NEW YORK, 15 November (UNFPA) -- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is shipping emergency reproductive health supplies, including equipment for the safe delivery of newborn infants, to victims of the cyclone in Orissa, India. The Fund is responding to a request for help from the state government of Orissa.

The supplies will arrive in India on Wednesday, 17 November, and will be distributed through the State health system and international aid agencies. The UNFPA is part of the United Nations-coordinated relief for cyclone victims in the eastern Indian coastal state.

"Even 10 days after the cyclone, many areas are isolated and a total picture of the destruction is not clear, many public health centres and subdistrict hospitals have been destroyed", said Michael Vlassoff, UNFPA's representative in India, who has recently returned from the affected region.

"With almost 10 million people in the worst-affected areas, we estimate there will be almost 6,000 births a week over the next three months", he added. "There will be a tremendous need for assistance among women giving birth. We can also expect to see many women giving birth prematurely due to the stress and trauma of the cyclone and an increase in miscarriages, again as a result of the trauma."

"People often forget about the need for obstetric and gynaecological equipment in emergency situations, but women do not stop being pregnant because there is a catastrophe", said Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the UNFPA. "Giving birth without any medical help or without equipment will be a life or death situation for many women in Orissa."

"UNFPA's relief support for Orissa amounts to around $700,000. This includes an immediate grant of $100,000 to the primary health care system. It also allows for the provision of emergency reproductive health supplies and a contribution to an emergency contingency fund to the Orissa State Department of Family Welfare to support volunteer medical personnel. The bulk of the $700,000 will be given to medium-term assistance for the rehabilitation of the primary health centres, many of which were destroyed by the cyclone.

____________ * Reissued for technical reasons. - 2 - Press Release POP/746 16 November 1999

The supplies arriving next week can be used at local health centres by midwives and doctors to carry out normal deliveries, to perform sutures under local anaesthesia, and to stabilize potentially dangerous conditions such as haemorrhage before transferring patients to a hospital.

Other equipment being sent is intended for more complicated deliveries and can be used to perform caesarean sections and to resuscitate mothers and babies. This equipment is reusable and would normally be used at larger health centres or hospitals.

The UNFPA had been working in several very poor districts of Orissa prior to the cyclone, assisting local governments and community groups in the areas of reproductive health, family planning and women's empowerment.

The UNFPA is the largest internationally funded source of population assistance to developing countries. The Fund assists developing countries to improve reproductive health and family planning services on the basis of individual choice, and to formulate population policies in support of efforts towards sustainable development.

For more information or interviews please contact: Michael Vlassoff, UNFPA New Delhi, tel. (+91) 11/462-7986, e-mail ; William A. Ryan, UNFPA New York, tel. (+1) 212/297-5279 e-mail or Abubakar Dungus, UNFPA New York, tel. (+1) 212/297-5031, e-mail .

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