Women and men gather at a free health fair supported by UNFPA in Sierra Leone.
In late 2013, I had the pleasure of attending a press briefing at the United Nations with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director, Babatunde Osotimehin.
It was the first time in my life that I could relate my own personal experience as a woman who had made the difficult decision not to continue a pregnancy, to what a UN official was saying. Not only did his words make me feel supported, but I felt privileged to be able to make that choice.
I also felt terrible thinking of all the women out there who, like me, wanted to carve out a future for themselves on their own terms and at their own time — but who ultimately would not be able to because of the massive politicization of women’s bodies.
About a year later, I would have the opportunity to interview the Executive Director one on one in his midtown office. In a room filled with newspapers, an assortment of framed family photographs and UN reports, Osotimehin leaned across his large desk pointing a pen at me and said, “women’s rights, are human rights.”
The most powerful words I had ever heard, Osotimehin's fresh approach to an often complex topic seemed like a battle cry of sorts.
At that time, and for the course of his career, I’m pretty sure that the Executive Director was aware that a war continued to be waged against women’s bodies and unfortunately, would continue for many years after our conversation. For Osotimehin and his team at UNFPA, providing services and empowering women all over the world to make choices about their bodies and ultimately their health was a task for which they all took very, very seriously.
Months prior, I had the opportunity to travel around the world with UNFPA to further understand their work with regards to maternal health, family planning and reproductive rights.
I can stand here on my two feet and say confidently that I saw first hand the powerful way in which UNFPA changed the lives of countless global citizens.
While in Sierra Leone in the midst of the Ebola crisis, I watched UNFPA do more than just provide health care for women — they went ahead and supported the production of tool kits and public messaging that would be used to educate people about the impending epidemic. We washed our hands upon entering the main offices in Freetown and in lieu of a handshake, we instead offered and elbow-to-elbow greeting before meetings.
When we traveled to Bo a few days later to visit a maternity ward where local women could access prenatal care and even deliver their babies at the hands of trained midwives, I got the chance to see first hand the strict guidelines and protocol setup to ensure that each patient endure a safe birth in the midst of a growing health crisis.
In Laos, UNFPA supported local initiatives that focused on educating youth on sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and domestic violence. I met a young woman at a local youth center who explained that without the programs supported by UNFPA, she’d never have access to that kind of information, let alone learn how to negotiate sex within her relationship.
In Haiti, UNFPA set up offices and began the giant task of mapping out strategies to address maternal mortality, teen pregnancy and the transmissions of HIV — all of which they did in tandem with local clinics and health practitioners.
These weren’t stories laid out for me by a communications officer before I arrived, these were facts — first hand experiences for which I saw with my two eyes in the heat of every desperate moment.
In the original interview that I conducted with Osotimehin, he pointed out the significance of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo almost 20 plus years ago as a place where governments made their commitments in support of the organizations mandate. The significance of those commitments weren't just centered around serving women and their families, but more so about addressing poverty and inequality — healthcare’s two longstanding enemies.
“Twenty years ago, we were able to secure commitments from governments on various aspects of poverty reduction, but more importantly the empowerment of women and girls and young people, including their reproductive rights – but the battle is not over,” Osotimehin said in our previous interview.
This week the United States decided to pull funding for UNFPA, a shortsighted decision we saw coming before the new administration took office.
The news was very upsetting and of course, my mind was filled with questions and concerns for which I struggled to answer.
Where do we go from here? How will a young teenager fleeing child marriage address the trauma that she has experienced in a safe space without the support or innovation of UNFPA?
How will a father of five having decided to undergo a vasectomy so that his wife does not have to carry the burden of their reproductive life have access to a qualified doctor who can perform the operation?
The United States — the fourth largest donor to the organization — is failing individuals across the world whose ability to live full, healthy impactful lives was once a real possibility. With this shortsighted decision, UNFPA continues to remain one of the leading institutions tasked with the important job of having women’s backs when no one else will.