In September 2017, Mexico suffered from a devastating magnitude 7.1 earthquake that left hundreds dead and injured, while crushing buildings and destroying infrastructure. We immediately activated our humanitarian response network which assessed damage, deployed personnel, and made sure our mobile clinics were able to operate and reach local communities with vital healthcare and services. Mexfam, an IPPF member association in Mexico, continued to provide free healthcare during and after the record-breaking earthquakes, despite many members of staff losing their homes and even family members. This is what resilience looks like and we thank those that continue to provide people with vital sexual and reproductive healthcare. Photography © IPPF/Brenda Islas Photos: © IPPF/Brenda Islas 

About 700,000 people work in Cambodia’s garment factories, many of them migrant women from rural areas who typically possess low levels of education. According to Dr. Sreng, not only do these women often lack crucial health knowledge, but they tend not to trust health providers or know where to access medical care.  RHAC, which first took its health outreach programme into garment factories in 1998, now operates in 82 factories that employ a combined total of 130,429 workers. Nearly 28,000 of them have taken part in RHAC-led group discussions and more than 67,000 have attended targeted health days like the one at Propitious. Photography © IPPF/Omar Havana

Today marks the International Day of the Girl Child. Girls are often the ones to suffer firsthand from the lack of access to sexual and reproductive services. We will continue to fight for girls everywhere to not only have access to health care services but to stand up and shout 'I Decide my future'.

Incessant rains across Sri Lanka during May 2017 affected over half a million people in seven districts. Most affected was the Ratnapura district where over 20,000 people faced flash floods, and where 46 deaths were reported. IPPF Humanitarian, in partnership with FPA Sri Lanka, responded to this catastrophe through the distribution of over 1,000 dignity kits in Ratnapura.   Stories Read more stories about our humanitarian work in Sri Lanka during the floods

The earthquake that struck Nepal in April 2015 caused devastation and destruction that the country has still not recovered from. Almost 9,000 people lost their lives and over 22,000 were injured in Nepal’s worst natural disaster for 80 years.   The earthquake severely disrupted access to healthcare and family planning. Thousands of people were displaced far from their usual clinics or support networks.   In the days and weeks after the earthquake, the Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN) took action to make people’s health and family planning needs a top priority. Within 48 hours they were running emergency health camps across the country, dispensing medicines and bringing vital, changing support to thousands of survivors.  Photography © IPPF/Jon Spaull

Meeting the family planning needs of Nepal’s 28 million people, particularly those living in remote mountain villages, takes careful planning, complex logistics, skilled staff and money. Since 1959, the Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN), has been providing better access to contraception and maternal health, ensuring its services penetrate even the most remote corners of this rugged mountain country.  Reaching communities in far flung parts of this mountainous country is a logistical challenge, but one FPAN sees as crucial to its work. Teams of staff and volunteers spend days travelling by vehicle or, if necessary, on foot to make sure they reach people.  Stories Read more stories from Nepal