SUVA, Fiji, 26 April 2023: UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Natalia Kanem, concludes an official 3-day mission to Fiji, which commenced on 24 April and included visiting Makoi Maternity Unit in Suva, and Nabavatu Village in Vanua Levu. Dr. Kanem engaged with high level officials of the Government throughout her visit, as well as women and girls, persons with disabilities, healthcare professionals and youth climate activists.

Patron of UNFPA, H.R.H. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, and the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, H.E. Dan Jørgensen, also participated in the visit to Nabavatu village, seeing  firsthand the devastating impact of climate-related disasters on communities in the Pacific, especially on women and girls.

Category five tropical cyclone Yasa, which struck Fiji in 2020, left families homeless and without livelihoods. Recalling her heartfelt interactions with members of the Nabavatu village, Dr. Kanem said: “The women and girls I met described in vivid detail the devastating impacts of the disaster on their health and dignity, and just how essential the sexual and reproductive health and psychosocial support they received was for their recovery. As we work with communities to build resilience to the effects of climate change, it is crucial that we listen to women and young people, prioritize their needs, and include them in policy making and humanitarian action.”

On the morning of Wednesday, 26 April, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Strategic Planning, National Development and Statistics, Hon. Biman Chand Prasad, hosted an inter-ministerial policy dialogue to discuss how the Government of Fiji can prioritize investments in young people as the country witnesses a ‘youth bulge’ with over 60 per cent of the population aged 35 or younger

At the inter-ministerial meeting, Dr. Kanem emphasized that only by ensuring quality education and health services, opportunities for acquiring skills and decent employment, and realizing gender equality and women’s empowerment, including their ability to make decisions over their own bodies and live free from violence, can any country unleash its potential for sustainable development.

During the afternoon of Wednesday, H.R.H. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and Dr. Kanem visited UNFPA’s partner non-governmental organization, Fiji Disabled Peoples Federation (FDPF), to learn about the challenges facing persons with disabilities in the country and the efforts made to realize their rights in partnership with UNFPA. 

The mission commenced with a visit to Makoi Maternity Unit just outside Suva, along the densely populated Suva-Nausori corridor, where Dr. Kanem witnessed efforts to improve the quality of maternal health care and engaged in discussions on the need for more skilled midwives, especially to reach the most marginalized and farthest to reach communities. While almost all births in Fiji take place with the support of skilled birth attendants, facility readiness to provide safe deliveries is low, thus maternal deaths still remain at 86 per 100,000 live births, according to the Fiji 2019 Maternal Death Surveillance and Response Report. This is higher than the Sustainable Development Goals target to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births.

"As in many other countries, women and young people in remote, rural communities in Fiji face difficulty in accessing quality health care, including sexual and reproductive health services. There is only one nurse or midwife for every 900 women of reproductive age, with over 90 per cent of them concentrated in urban areas on the main island. This speaks to the urgent need for innovative solutions to improve access to quality services across the country, so that everyone, even in the most hard-to-reach areas, receives the quality health care they need and that is their right.” said Dr. Kanem.

UNFPA started working in Fiji in 1993 when the organization signed its first cooperation agreement with the Government, to provide assistance to the people in Fiji and Pacific Island Countries and Territories. Thirty years on, UNFPA - with the support of generous donors and partners such as Denmark - continues to support efforts to end preventable maternal deaths, to end unmet need for family planning, and to end gender-based violence and gender inequality.

Media pack:

To download photographs and video footage go to link:  https://multimedia.unfpa.org/Package/2A1HRGDJ3PX

For more information, please contact:

Iman Morooka, UNFPA Asia-Pacific Regional Office, morooka@unfpa.org

Navinesh Kumar, UNFPA Pacific Sub-Regional Office, nkumar@unfpa.org

About UNFPA:

UNFPA is the UN sexual and reproductive health agency. UNFPA works in more than 150 countries and territories to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.