“We need more health-care services and facilities in operation. I want my baby safe, this is all I need.” Nan Nwe, 40, is pregnant and newly displaced in Sittwe, in Myanmar’s cyclone-battered Rakhine State. 

Cyclone Mocha was one of the most powerful storms ever to hit Myanmar, affecting an estimated 3.4 million people. Howling winds tore homes to pieces, while torrential downpours and a dangerous storm surge submerged areas along the coast, flooding villages and leaving hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people without shelter.  

Many who were already displaced in camps and displacement sites, stateless people, women and children, and people with disabilities have lost their homes and access to basic services and clean water. Health facilities and safe spaces for women and girls that are supported by HA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, have been extensively damaged or destroyed entirely by the storm. 

Yoma Nandar, 21, is also from Sittwe, near where the cyclone made landfall on 14 May. She asked, “When pregnant women need services urgently, where do we go unless the services are available and in our reach?”

Twenty-six year old Nway Nway Soe is also pregnant and lives in the path of the cyclone. She told HA, “With the destruction of roads and my nearest clinic and expensive transportation costs, I cannot go to the city to receive antenatal care.”

To reach women and girls in even the most inaccessible areas, UNFPA is supporting mobile clinics across nine villages in Sittwe township, providing assistance such as health check-ups, prenatal and postnatal care, family planning and psychosocial support. These clinics, already operated by UNFPA partners before the cyclone, help ensure those grappling with the crisis can receive critical sexual and reproductive health care.