"There are so many wounded. Women are giving birth, and the babies are dying immediately." --Uzbek refugee
As a consortium of organizations dedicated to the promotion of health among all persons affected by crisis, we encourage existing relief efforts to provide water, sanitation, food and medicines in Kyrgyzstan. We also call on humanitarian actors to provide lifesaving reproductive health services for women displaced by the conflict.
About 300,000 people, mainly ethnic Uzbeks, have been forced to flee their homes. Over 100,000 Uzbeks have been able to cross the border from Kyrgyzstan into Uzbekistan, including more than 350 registered pregnant women.The situation may be worse for women who have not made it to the camps. Uzbeks interviewed by Associated Press journalists in Osh said that, on one street alone, ethnic Kyrgyz men sexually assaulted and beat more than 10 Uzbek women and girls, including some pregnant women and children as young as 12.
This violence means that a country, which is already experiencing a dramatic increase in maternal mortality (25% increase in maternal deaths since 2008 with a majority occurring along the Uzbekistan border), will face further deterioration in quality reproductive health services at a time when these services are even further critically needed.
