The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has received a contribution of $1.3 million from the Humanitarian Fund to assist the most vulnerable women and girls in Yemen with life-saving protection services.

The United Nations Fund confirmed in a statement that this grant would help the United Nations Population Fund to continue its efforts to support seven safe spaces for women and girls and one safe shelter in each of the governorates of Al Dhalea, Marib and Shabwa, where the protection needs of women there are the most severe.

The statement said: Over the course of eight months, this support will enable more than 40,000 women and girls to access a range of protection services, including psychosocial support, medical care, legal aid, economic empowerment, and access to shelter and housing.

“An estimated 6.1 million Yemeni women are in urgent need of protection services and it is imperative that basic services for women and girls not only be sustainable, but must also be expanded,” said Nestor Omohangi, UNFPA Representative in Yemen. “We are grateful for this generous contribution at this sensitive time. It is appropriate that women’s protection programs in Yemen are still suffering from a lack of funding.”

It is worth noting that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) coordinates and provides protection services for women throughout the country, and is responding to the humanitarian situation in Yemen by addressing the reproductive health needs of women and girls.