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Empowering women is a critical strategy for creating sustainable and effective solutions in the fight against climate change. Granting women autonomy over their reproductive health is vital to building resilience in communities vulnerable to environmental disasters.
The frontlines of climate and health crises: Pakistan’s 2022 floods
In 2022, catastrophic floods in Pakistan inundated over a third of the country and displaced 33 million people. These floods destroyed homes, crops, and essential infrastructure. However, amidst the devastation, it was women and girls who faced the brunt of the crisis. Dr. Tasneem Fatima, Director of Health Services for MSS, MSI’s partner organisation in Pakistan, recounted:
“Displaced women came to us seeking antenatal and postnatal care, emergency contraception, condoms, menstrual kits, and clean birth delivery kits. I know of two women who came to us in labour, and our midwives brought them into our care, delivering their babies safely in the back of a van.”
This highlights how climate change is not just an environmental issue but a profound health crisis. Women and adolescent girls, in particular, are exposed to heightened risks such as sexual violence, unintended pregnancies, and unsafe abortions during disasters.
Sexual and reproductive health: a lifeline in times of crisis
The floods in Pakistan underscored the necessity of maintaining access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services during climate disasters. For many women who lost everything, accessing SRH services was a lifeline. MSI’s mobile outreach teams were instrumental in reaching women in remote, flood-affected regions, delivering emergency contraception, safe delivery kits, and maternal healthcare.
This experience reinforces an essential truth: reproductive health services are crucial to building climate resilience. Access to contraception and maternal health services allows women to take control of their lives, even in the midst of crisis. Avoiding unintended pregnancies, for example, enables women to focus on securing shelter, food, and safety for their families.
Learning from the frontlines: the link between reproductive health and climate resilience
As climate-related disasters such as floods and droughts increase in both frequency and intensity, SRH services become vital not just as health interventions but as tools for helping communities adapt to the climate crisis. Our work in Pakistan is part of a broader effort across the Asia and Pacific regions, aimed at ensuring women have access to reproductive healthcare, enabling them to withstand the impacts of environmental challenges.
Projections suggest that, between 2021 and 2031, as many as 14 million women in climate-affected areas could lose access to contraception. This could lead to 6.2 million unintended pregnancies, 2.1 million unsafe abortions, and nearly 6,000 maternal deaths. These figures paint a grim picture: without SRH services, climate change will worsen existing vulnerabilities and increase gender inequality.
MSI collaborated with organisations delivering non-SRH services, working flexibly within and around the constraints of the crisis. Flexible and innovative funding approaches enable us to respond to situations unfolding on the ground, and to deliver more impactful approaches.
Championing reproductive choice for climate resilience
At MSI, supporting women’s reproductive choices is at the heart of our strategy for building climate-resilient communities. Whether in Pakistan, Timor-Leste, Vietnam, or other areas, MSI is working with local governments and organisations to integrate reproductive healthcare into climate adaptation plans. This empowers women to make informed decisions about their reproductive health, which helps them respond to environmental changes more effectively.
Access to SRH services also strengthens women’s participation in climate action. When women have control over their reproductive choices, they are better positioned to take leadership roles in disaster preparedness and recovery efforts and contribute to community-based climate solutions. This is particularly significant in patriarchal societies, where women are often excluded from decision-making spaces.
The path forward: climate-resilient healthcare for women and girls
MSI’s experience in Pakistan and other climate-affected regions has shown us that protecting SRH services is not just about safeguarding women’s health and rights during disasters—it is also about giving women the tools to build more resilient futures for themselves and their communities.
As the climate crisis intensifies, integrating reproductive healthcare into global climate strategies is essential. By empowering women with the ability to make choices about their bodies, families, and futures, we strengthen entire communities and pave the way for a more resilient, equitable world.
About MSI Asia Pacific and MSI Reproductive Choices
MSI Asia Pacific (MSIAP) works in partnership with Australian-based donors in the Asia Pacific region. We are part of the MSI Reproductive Choices global partnership (MSI), which has been providing sexual and reproductive healthcare services for over 45 years. Worldwide our 9,000 team members work across 36 countries providing contraception and maternal healthcare services wherever they’re needed – from major cities to rural, hard-to-reach villages.
There are currently 257 million women worldwide who want but can’t access contraception; 55% or 142 million of these women live in the Asia Pacific region. For this reason, MSIAP is committed to delivering MSI’s global mission in the Asia Pacific region: By 2030, no abortion will be unsafe and every individual who wants access to contraception will have it.
