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STORY: UN / CHAD WOMEN AND GIRLS
TRT: 03:16
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 12 MAY 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UN Headquarters
12 MAY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press room dais
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrew Saberton, Deputy Executive Director for Management, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“What I witnessed was both encouraging and deeply sobering. Encouraging progress in advancing the health and rights of women and young people, and sobering evidence of the immense pressures that conflict, displacement, and chronic underinvestment continue to place on already fragile systems. Chad now hosts more than 1.3 million refugees and returnees, most of them women and children.”
4. Med shot, journalist
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrew Saberton, Deputy Executive Director for Management, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“In Adre, on the Sudan border, I visited a UNFPA supported Women's Centre where women and girls who fled Sudan spoke candidly about the dangers they face every day. As firewood disappears around the camps, women are forced further out into isolated areas, exposing them to harassment, assault, and gender-based violence. Yet, along this hardship, I also saw resilience. The Women's Centre is helping women rebuild their lives through psychosocial support, vocational training and small income generating activities that restore both dignity and a degree of independence.”
6. Med shot, journalist
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrew Saberton, Deputy Executive Director for Management, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“Further north in Wadi Fira, where Iridimi Refugee Camp is located, I saw the refugee response is under growing pressure. I saw overstretched health services struggling to respond to the needs of both refugees and host communities. In Wadi Fira province alone, local authorities report more than 333,000 refugees across approximately 81,000 households, with women and children accounting for more than 75 percent of the population.”
8. Wide shot, press room dais
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrew Saberton, Deputy Executive Director for Management, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA):
“Needs are growing faster than available resources, and more women and girls arrive every day. More births are expected. More survivors of violence require care and protection. Health systems are stretched to their limits. Chad already has one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates, at approximately 860 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, and in humanitarian settings such as these, these risks multiply. Globally, around two thirds of preventable maternal deaths occur in such humanitarian settings. Our Chad country office is this year facing a 44 percent cut of funding compared with last year. UNFPA is appealing for 18.7 million USD for its humanitarian aid program in 2026 to sustain life-saving maternal health, reproductive health, and gender-based violence services for refugees, returnees, and vulnerable host communities across Chad. As of March 2026, only 2.5 percent of this appeal has been funded.”
10. Wide shot, end of briefing
Following a week-long official visit to Chad, a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) official today (12 May) told reporters in New York that what he had witnessed was “both encouraging and deeply sobering” as the country now hosts more than 1.3 million refugees and returnees, most of them women and children.
Andrew Saberton, who is the Deputy Executive Director for Management at UNFPA, said he had found “progress in advancing the health and rights of women and young people, and sobering evidence of the immense pressures that conflict, displacement, and chronic underinvestment continue to place on already fragile systems.”
Saberton said he had visited a UNFPA supported Women's Centre in In Adre, on the Sudan border, where “women and girls who fled Sudan spoke candidly about the dangers they face every day” and how they are exposed to “harassment, assault and gender-based violence.”
He said the Women's Centre “is helping women rebuild their lives through psychosocial support, vocational training and small income generating activities that restore both dignity and a degree of independence.”
Saberton said he also visited Iridimi Refugee Camp in Wadi Fira, where he saw the refugee response “is under growing pressure.”
He said, “I saw overstretched health services struggling to respond to the needs of both refugees and host communities. In Wadi Fira province alone, local authorities report more than 333,000 refugees across approximately 81,000 households, with women and children accounting for more than 75 percent of the population.”
The UNFPA official said, “needs are growing faster than available resources, and more women and girls arrive every day. More births are expected. More survivors of violence require care and protection. Health systems are stretched to their limits. Chad already has one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates, at approximately 860 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, and in humanitarian settings such as these, these risks multiply.”
He said, “our Chad country office is this year facing a 44 percent cut of funding compared with last year. UNFPA is appealing for 18.7 million USD for its humanitarian aid program in 2026 to sustain life-saving maternal health, reproductive health, and gender-based violence services for refugees, returnees, and vulnerable host communities across Chad. As of March 2026, only 2.5 percent of this appeal has been funded.”
