17 December 2018, Addis Ababa – UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, today handed-over 5 ambulances to the Somali Region Health Bureau and the Administration for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA).

The ambulances worth 7.1 million Birr were purchased with the generous funding of the Embassies of Denmark and Sweden as part of UNFPA supported emergency response projects focusing on Reproductive Health, sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS and Gender Based Violence.  

The ambulances will be deployed in project sites located in the Somali Region and two refugee camps in the Gambella Regional State to serve drought affected women and girls as well as refugees and surrounding host communities respectively.
 
The emergency response projects UNFPA is supporting in the two Regions focus on Reproductive Health, Sexually Transmitted Infections including HIV/AIDS, and Gender Based Violence. The projects aim at capacity development of service providers, provision of various life-saving Emergency Reproductive Health kits, prevention and management of the consequences of sexual violence. The projects also support demand creation activities in the areas of sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence.

The project supported by the Embassy Sweden in the Gambella Region targets South Sudanese refugees and surrounding host communities focusing on empowerment of women and girls in in humanitarian response, including protection from gender-based violence.

The three-year project funded by Denmark in the Somali Region is being supported by UNFPA through an innovative partnership with the UN World Food Programme. The project is creating linkages between humanitarian food distribution and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights targeting women and girls in 9 drought affected hotspot districts and one city council.

The ambulances are expected to strengthen referral linkages in addressing obstetric complications and other critical cases in emergency settings thereby contributing to the reduction of of maternal and child mortality and morbidity.

The Ambassadors of Denmark and Sweden, Senior Officials of the Somali Region and the Administration for Refugees and Returnees Affairs, and Representative of UNFPA, UNHCR and WFP were present at the handover ceremony.
                                     

For additional information, please contact:

Alemayehu Bogale, Humanitarian Response Unit, UNFPA; Tel +251-11-5444260; E-mail: bogale@unfpa.org  
Abraham Gelaw, Communications Unit, UNFPA; Tel. +251-11-5444079; +251-911-488627;       E-mail: gelaw@unfpa.org
Meron Negash, Communication Associate, UNFPA Ethiopia; Tel. +251 115 444210, Mobile: +251911 615913; E-mail: mnegash@unfpa.org