Ipas staff in Mozambique and Malawi are struggling to recover after Tropical Cyclone Freddy made landfall twice over southern Africa this week, displacing thousands of people and causing widespread destruction.
Damaging cyclones have become a regular occurrence in this part of the world due to climate change, impacting all facets of people’s lives, including their sexual and reproductive health.
Ipas staff are dealing with the personal hardships of this latest storm’s destruction, and they will soon also start working to ensure crisis response efforts don’t leave out sexual and reproductive health care—including access to contraception and abortion for people impacted by the storm.
by Esther Sweeney for Ipas
A recurring problem in southern Africa
This is not the first time Ipas has participated in disaster response after a cyclone in this region. Last year, in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Ana, Ipas teams in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia worked on a coordinated response to ensure reproductive health care after the storm.
Ipas has documented the harmful impacts of climate change on people’s sexual and reproductive health in Mozambique, including the perspectives of women who are fighting this crisis every day.
“Clearly, we need to start building resilience to climate change in our region,” says Pansi Katenga, Ipas’s director of development, who is based in Malawi. “And as we know that women bear the brunt of climate disasters like these, we need to work for women-led solutions that tackle gender equity and ensure women have the resources and health care they need after a storm like this.”
by Esther Sweeney for Ipas
UPDATE: By end of March, Ipas Malawi was able to donate medical supplies to Blantyre and Chiladzulo District Health hospitals. The supplies are mainly to support sexual and reproductive health services for people displaced by the storm and living in camps. At right, Ipas Malawi representatives deliver supplies to Blantyre District Health Hospital.
“Our focus is on sexual and reproductive health in these camps because we know that women in the camps still need the services. And we also know the health system at the moment has been a bit disrupted.”
Clement Kolove, Ipas Malawi country representative
