WUNRN
Iraq
- Dignity Kits Meet Hygiene Needs of Displaced Women & Girls in Iraq
Dignity kits are distributed
in the Khanke Camp for displaced Iraqis. Photo credit: UNFPA/Millat Horiri
28 October 2014 - DUHOK, Iraq – In crisis situations, the
needs for shelter, food and security are rightly given urgent attention. Yet
the specific needs of women and girls are too often overlooked. Some 1.8 million people are
internally displaced in Iraq, and a total of 5.2 million people are in need of
humanitarian assistance. Among them, women and girls have heightened needs –
including a heightened need for protection from gender-based violence and
special health and hygiene needs.
UNFPA is working to meet these needs, providing safe
spaces for women, psychosocial support for victims of violence, and sexual
and reproductive health services for women and girls. UNFPA is also
distributing thousands of dignity kits – which contain hygiene supplies such as
toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, sanitary pads and underclothes – to
women and girls of reproductive age.
“Basic needs for every woman”
Maintaining proper hygiene is a common problem in displaced
communities. "I take shower with water alone – with no shampoo or any
sanitizer,” said Ansam, 26.
She and her three young children were forced to flee their home
in Bashiqa when fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL,
also known as ISIS) approached the town.
They left in the middle of the night, when she was in only her
pajamas. For a month and a half, these were her only clothes. “It is hard to
stay healthy," she said.
But she also noted that women’s hygiene needs were going unmet.
"I need pads, underclothes, shampoo. This is not luxury…
They are basic needs for every woman," she said. Purchasing feminine
hygiene products and the other supplies to maintain her health was
“impossible,” she added.
Ansam is now staying in a school that has been turned into host
site for displaced people in Duhok, northern Iraq. She says she was relieved to
receive a UNFPA dignity kit containing these essential supplies.
Winterization
The dignity kits offer more than the basic necessities. They are
also a vital opportunity for UNFPA staff and partners to meet displaced women
to assess their well-being and raise awareness of the reproductive health
services and counselling programmes being made available.
Since June, UNFPA has distributed 18,000 dignity kits to
displaced women and girls of reproductive age.
But as the crisis in Iraq escalates and more people are
displaced, the needs are growing rapidly. Winter is approaching, and many
displaced families are without heavy clothes or blankets.
"We want to be warm in winter," said Bervan, a
45-year-old grandmother who also fled Bashiqa with her family.
UNFPA is now preparing to distribute winter clothes with the
dignity kits. For pregnant women, the kits will also contain warm baby clothes.
And in partnership with UN Women and a local non-governmental
organization, UNFPA is supporting safe women’s spaces where displaced Iraqi and
Syrian women can learn to make these warm winter items, which they can then
sell to UNFPA.
In its 2014-2015 response, UNFPA is planning to procure and
distribute at least 95,000 dignity kits.
"We lost our house in Bashiqa, our money,” Bervan told
UNFPA. “We do not want to lose our dignity.”