UNFPA / HORN OF AFRICA DROUGHT

STORY: UNFPA / HORN OF AFRICA DROUGHT
TRT: 05:23
SOURCE: UNFPA
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNFPA ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: NATS

DATELINE: 07 NOVEMBER 2022, KABASA INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP, DOOLOW, SOMALIA / CEEL JALE 1 INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP, KISMAYO, SOMALIA / FILE

SHOTLIST:

07 NOVEMBER 2022, DOOLOW, SOMALIA

1. Wide shot, UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem disembarks the plane
2. Wide shot, UNFPA team meets with the local delegation
3. Close up, Dr. Kanem
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“We selected your place here in order to be able to alert the international community that resources are needed.”
5. Med shot, people walk over the bridge between Somalia and Ethiopia
6. Wide shot, bridge between Somalia and Ethiopia
7. Wide shot, donkey cart rides over the bridge between Somalia and Ethiopia
8. Med shot, donkey cart rides over the bridge between Somalia and Ethiopia
9. Wide shot, people walk over the bridge between Somalia and Ethiopia
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“I'm here in Somalia, visiting a place called Doolow. In this town, people are streaming across the bridge behind me, which separates Somalia from Ethiopia. The level of desperation knowing that almost 2 million women and adolescent girls of childbearing age are going hungry because of unprecedented drought not seen in decades in this country.”
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“The consequences of hunger when you're pregnant, when the newborn arrives, cannot be understated. It is a devastating situation. And UNFPA has done its best to deploy resources to work with women of this community, and the male leaders to assure that there'll be safe spaces for women and girls to be protected from gender-based violence, and to provide what we call dignity kits. Because we're talking about human dignity when you're menstruating and you're an internally displaced woman or girl fleeing the situation of potential famine.”
12. Med shot, women and girls at the Kabasa Internally Displaced Persons Camp
13. Close up, women and girls at the camp
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“So here we are in Kabasa camp. The message is that the need is urgent. Because as much as UNFPA is doing, that demand is growing.”
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“We really need more resources to be able to register these women and their children. To be able to provide the dignity kits that they need, if they're pregnant, and also the mobile clinics that we are fundraising for. And I'm pretty confident that international solidarity, the government and the people of this community will be able to make a difference at this really, really desperate time.”
16. Med shot, Kanem talks with a young mother who has given birth and is holding her baby at the Kabasa Health Center
17. Med shot, Kanem talks with a young mother who has given birth and is holding her baby at the Kabasa Health Center
18. Med shot, Kanem talks to a healthcare worker at the Kabasa Health Center
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“In Kabasa camp, which has been growing. As a matter of fact, they delivered more babies than ever -- 105 during the course of the last month. We at UNFPA want to make sure that we can expand services. The need is growing. As the drought expands, people in need are more and more, and no one is more in need than a pregnant woman, who was so vulnerable at this time.”

FILE - OCTOBER 2022, KISMAYO, SOMALIA

21. Drone shot, Ceel Jale 1 Internally Displaced Persons Camp, Kismayo, Somalia
22. Drone shot, Ceel Jale 1 Internally Displaced Persons Camp, Kismayo, Somalia
23. Drone shot, Ceel Jale 1 Internally Displaced Persons Camp, Kismayo, Somalia
24. Drone shot, Ceel Jale 1 Internally Displaced Persons Camp, Kismayo, Somalia
25.Drone shot, People outside of the at the Baxnano Safe Space for gender-based violence survivor
26. Wide shot, woman walks by the tents in the camp
27. Wide shot, woman sweeps the ground
28. Med shot, woman sweeps the ground
29. Wide shot, women wait outside of the Baxnano Safe Space
30. Wide shot, woman pours water into a bucket to clean her clothes
31. Close up, a woman cleans her clothes
32. Wide shot, woman pulls a water barrel behind her
33. Wide shot, inside a person’s tent
34. Close up, a kettle sits on the ground
35. Wide shot, Kismayo General Hospital Maternity Unit
36. Wide shot, woman walks into the Kismayo General Hospital Maternity Unit
37. Wide shot, doctor and a healthcare worker exam a pregnant woman
38. Close up, the doctor checks the woman’s pulse and plod pressure
39. Med shot, the doctor exam a pregnant woman
40. Close up, the doctor feels the pregnant woman’s belly
41. Wide shot, women wait outside UNFPA supported Baxnano Safe Space
42. Med shot, women wait outside UNFPA supported Baxnano Safe Space and receive dignity kits
43. Close up, a woman holding a baby
44. Med shot, sign of the UNFPA supported Baxnano Safe Space
45. Med shot, a mother holds her young child and smiles

STORYLINE:

Visiting the Kabasa Internally Displaced Persons Camp, in Doolow, Somalia, the Head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Natalia Kanem, said, “2 million women and adolescent girls of childbearing age are going hungry because of unprecedented drought not seen in decades in this country.”

Somalia has been blighted by the longest and most severe drought in 40 years, which is expected to continue well into 2023. Around half of the population – 7.8 million people – need urgent humanitarian assistance. Millions are on the brink of starvation and available resources are struggling to keep pace with escalating needs.

Women and girls are paying an unacceptably high price for the unfolding catastrophe.

Kanem said, “the consequences of hunger when you're pregnant, when the newborn arrives, cannot be understated. It is a devastating situation.

Of those affected, UNFPA estimates that nearly 2 million are women and adolescent girls of reproductive age, including 240,000 women who are currently pregnant. More than 80,000 women are expected to give birth in the next three months, an average of 900 deliveries a day, in a country where only one in five health facilities are fully operational. Even before the crisis, maternal mortality was high. Malnutrition rates among pregnant and lactating women are acute. Devastating reports show mothers too weak to feed their babies, and babies too weak to cry.

The UNFPA Executive Director said, UNFPA has done its best to deploy resources to work with women of this community, and the male leaders to assure that there'll be safe spaces for women and girls to be protected from gender-based violence, and to provide what we call dignity kits

Women and girls are facing a daily struggle to survive and are caught in a double crisis of violence and hunger. There has been a 20 percent increase in rape and a 60 percent increase in gender-based violence in drought-affected areas. Female genital mutilation and child marriage have all become more widespread.

Women and girls’ rights, including their right to give birth safely and with dignity and to live free from all forms of violence, must not be set aside in times of crisis. UNFPA needs fast, flexible and sustainable funding to deliver humanitarian assistance to meet the vulnerabilities and unique needs of women and girls. Unless we act now thousands of Somali women and girls will die and countless more will suffer human rights violations including rape and child marriage.