Primary Navigation for the CDC Website
CDC en EspaƱol
Reproductive Health in Crises: Home

Worldwide, there are approximately 10 million refugees and 26 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). Approximately 80% are women and children. Facing serious challenges surrounding conflict and displacement, women may become more vulnerable to illness and poor reproductive outcomes while fleeing their homes and moving to a new location. Critical health issues include ensuring safe pregnancies and deliveries, meeting family planning needs, preventing and treating sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS, and preventing and responding to gender-based violence (GBV).

CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health (DRH) began a formal reproductive health in crises program in 1998. It has broadened its target populations to include refugees and IDPs in the emergency phase, in post emergency camps, returning to their countries of origin, and those who have integrated into the local host community. This allows public health officers to follow the full continuum of health from the emergency setting to that of viable communities.

DRH has the following goals for its reproductive health in crises activities:

  • Create tools that can be used by humanitarian relief partners.
  • Design and conduct evaluations to learn from field partners and develop best practices.
  • Promote the use of data for programmatic change.
  • Strengthen the capacity of field partners to collect and use data to improve services.
  • Translate and communicate study findings and best practices to conflict-affected populations, the humanitarian relief community, and donor agencies.

DRH has released a new resource aimed at improving the reproductive health of women and their families in conflict-affected areas throughout the world. The Reproductive Health Assessment (RHA) Toolkit for Conflict-Affected Women contains tools to assess the reproductive health needs of conflict-affected women and guidance on how to use these data to promote and enhance programs and services.

DRH collaborates with partners to understand the burden, causes, and risk factors for negative reproductive health outcomes in very low resource settings, including humanitarian emergencies. Assessing barriers to health care access also helps to guide reproductive health policies, programs and interventions.

Past reproductive health assessments include work among refugees in Ethiopia and internally displaced people in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia. Special studies of gender-based violence were conducted in East Timor and Kosovo. CDC conducted the largest study ever undertaken in Afghanistan on maternal mortality in 2002. Findings from this study, for which DRH partnered with UNICEF and USAID, showed that maternal mortality levels overall were among the highest in the world, maternal mortality was the leading cause of death among Afghan women of reproductive age, and that a large majority of maternal deaths were preventable. For more information on these studies, visit the publications web page or send an email to DRH. Reproductive Health for Refugees: American Refugee Committee, CARE,  Columbia Uniiversity, Heilbrunn Center for Population and Family Health, International Rescue Committe, JSI Research and Training Institute, Marie Stopes International, Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children

Current funding for DRH refugee activities is provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Past funding has been provided by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Refugees, Population, and Migration, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation. DRH is an active member of the Inter-Agency Working Group for Reproductive Health in Crises (IAWG) established by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and works closely with the Reproductive Health Response in Conflict (RHRC) Consortium.*

 

Selected Resources

Division of Reproductive Health's Services Management, Research & Translation
CDC's Division of Reproductive Health promotes improved health services management through capacity building, training, and technical assistance for reproductive health care providers ...more

Search PubMed for articles on Refugee Reproductive Health
This search is being conducted on PubMed an NLM/NIH service.

 

Links to non-Federal organizations found at this site are provided solely as a service to our users. These links do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at these links.
 

Page last reviewed: 7/29/08
Page last modified: 7/29/08
Content source: Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

rectangle border
Reproductive Health in Crises
bullet Home
bullet Projects
bullet Publications
rectangle border

Reproductive Health related resources
bullet Reproductive Health Home
bullet Data and Statistics
bullet Publications and Products
bullet

Glossary

bullet Related Links

bullet Adolescent Reproductive Health
bullet Assisted Reproductive Technology
bullet Global Reproductive Health
bullet Maternal and Infant Health
bullet Refugee Reproductive Health
bullet Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
bullet Unintended Pregnancy
bullet Women's Reproductive Health

bullet Division of Reproductive Health

Contact Info
CDC/DRH
4770 Buford Hwy, NE
MS K-20
Atlanta, GA 30341-3717

Call: 1 (800) CDC-INFO
TTY: 1 (888) 232-6348
FAX: (770) 488-4760

bullet Contact Us

divider
  Home | Policies and Regulations | Disclaimer | e-Government | FOIA | Contact Us
Safer, Healthier People

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30333, U.S.A
Tel: (404) 639-3311 / Public Inquiries: (404) 639-3534 / (800) 311-3435
USAGov LogoDHHS Department of Health
and Human Services