12 July 2024
NewsMonday’s deadly attack on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, which caused severe damage to the country’s largest children’s hospital and a healthcare centre for women, starkly emphasised the devastating impact of the ongoing war. Such assaults cause immediate tragedy but also ripple through the demographic fabric of the nation, exacerbating already critical population challenges. The ongoing shelling across Ukraine has significantly impacted health services, including maternal and neonatal units. Hospitals have struggled to deliver adequate care due to strained resources, damaged facilities and weakened energy supplies. The stress and trauma from constant bombardments, especially on the front lines, have also affected pregnant women. Doctors in the country have reported increased rates of pregnancy complications, premature deliveries and low-weight births.
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11 July 2024NewsISTANBUL, 11 July 2024 – On today’s World Population Day, the UNFPA Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia stressed the need for responses to the demographic shifts countries in the region are facing to be based on sound evidence and human rights. “The way demographic change is discussed in the region is still too often marked by misconceptions and anxieties,” said Florence Bauer, UNFPA Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
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16 May 2024NewsIryna Harifulina, 62, is one of the 5.1 million Ukrainians who have been internally displaced by the war. She used to live in Kramatorsk, a city located in the eastern Donetsk region near the frontlines that has repeatedly been hit by air strikes. The fighting forced her to move hundreds of kilometres away to the city of Dnipro, where she found safety but felt like a stranger. "I arrived with only two bags, leaving behind all my friends and the life I knew,” she said. “It was incredibly difficult to leave my city at this age, it was a terrible feeling.” Women make up 58 per cent of Ukraine’s internally displaced population. And like Ms. Harifulina, many struggle to settle into their new environment where they must take on new roles and responsibilities. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) created a project known as VONA Career Hubs to help women develop job skills and financial literacy. It initially focused on survivors of domestic and gender-based violence, but since the start of the war, it has been expanded to include women who are internally displaced and those from vulnerable populations or older age groups.
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1 December 2023NewsTashkent, 1 December 2023 - Through a strategic approach to policy-making, Uzbekistan and other countries in Central Asia can enhance their resilience and adaptability to demographic changes, turning challenges into opportunities for sustainable development, an international conference concluded. The conference, titled "Sustainable Development Amid Demographic Changes: National and International Practices," was organized by the Senate of Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Scientific Research Institute of Family and Women, and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, in partnership with several UN agencies, international financial institutions, private sector partners, and academia. “With the current age structure of the population, and a growing working-age population, Uzbekistan, like other countries in Central Asia, is in a prime position to reap the benefits of the demographic dividend,” said Florence Bauer, UNFPA Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
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11 July 2023NewsWithout significant improvements in gender equality, the countries of Eastern Europe are unlikely to overcome the demographic crisis they are facing, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia warned on today’s World Population Day. Decades of outmigration and low birthrates have left countries in Eastern Europe with declining and ageing populations. Efforts by governments to address the crisis by trying to boost birthrates have largely failed.
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