The Price of Neglect: Demanding Reproductive Healthcare for Every Woman during a Global Crisis

Somewhere in the world right now, a woman is in labour in a tent. There is no midwife. There are no gloves, no oxytocin, no clean water. Outside, the sound of artillery. This is not a scene from a history book, it is happening today, in Sudan, in Gaza, in South Sudan, in displacement camps stretching across three continents. And the world, too often, looks away.

Reproductive healthcare, contraception, prenatal care, safe delivery, and postnatal support are not a luxury. It is not a development afterthought to be addressed once the "real" emergencies have passed. It is a lifeline. And the cost of neglecting it is being paid, not in budget lines, but in human lives.

“Sexual and reproductive health should never be relegated to the margins of healthcare but recognized as critical for the overall well-being of individuals and the communities in which they live.” Dr. Pascale Allotey, WHO Director, Dept of Sexual and Reproductive Health

A crisis within a crisis

When the bombs fall, when the floods rise, when the food runs out, women still get pregnant. They still give birth. They still bleed. And without functioning health systems to catch them, they die at rates that should shock every person on earth into action.

In 2023, 37 countries were classified as being in conflict or institutional fragility, accounting for 61% of global maternal deaths despite representing only 25% of global live births. Let that sink in. One quarter of the world's births are producing more than half of its maternal deaths simply because of where those women happen to live.

The maternal mortality ratio in conflict-affected areas stands at 504 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to just 99 in stable settings. The numbers are not abstract. Every ratio represents a real woman, a mother, a daughter, a breadwinner whose death was preventable.

“We documented 114 maternal deaths in just eight months of 2024 in South Darfur alone. Most women are delivering at home or in displacement camps without skilled birth attendants, without antibiotics, without oxytocin. These are deaths that should not be happening.” Source: Doctors Without Borders / MSF Sudan Crisis Report, October 2024.

[Photo by Aditya Romansa on Unsplash]

Not just conflict, a systematic failure

It would be convenient to frame this as a war problem. It is not. The neglect of reproductive healthcare is a global, systematic failure that predates every current conflict and will outlast them unless the world chooses to act differently.

According to UNFPA's State of World Population 2025, nearly 1 in 3 adults globally have experienced an unintended pregnancy, and 39% report that financial limitations have affected or will affect their ability to realize their desired family size. Economic insecurity is robbing people of reproductive choice not only in war zones, but in peacetime cities, in middle-income countries, in communities where contraception exists but remains inaccessible because of cost, stigma, or policy.

An estimated 44% of partnered women globally are unable to make their own decisions over healthcare, contraception, or sex. Nearly half. When we talk about reproductive healthcare, we are talking about autonomy. We are talking about whether a woman is treated as a person or as a vessel.

“Nearly all maternal deaths are due to preventable causes. The medical knowledge that we need to prevent most complications has existed for decades. “Jenny Cresswell, WHO Scientist, Sexual and Reproductive Health Research, added.