Cyclone Winston, which devastated Fiji, was the strongest to ever hit the South Pacific. IPPF’s humanitarian response there was carried out with our Member Association, the Reproductive Family Health Association of Fiji, and is part of our SPRINT Initiative, funded by the Australian Government. My name is Atunaisa Rayasi. I am 65-years-old and I live in the village of Natalecake, with my son, daughter-in-law and their three children. During the storm the branch of the mango tree broke off and it hit the roof which was damaged. The roof stayed intact but was damaged so everything got drenched. The children were really scared. In my room the roofing iron came out and blew away. We can still see the watermark over there on the wall, where a dark patch marks out the spot where the rains hit. Even though the house was badly damaged, I actually found it far more difficult later, when I wanted to get to the hospital to see a doctor. After the cyclone, the road to the hospital was destroyed completely. We only got to the hospital after three weeks. I had to ask my son to get a car. There were so many other people there. I had to sit in a queue and wait for my number to be called up. You get there in the morning and the number gets called at 2pm. I am not able to leave home often, so I wasn't amongst those in the village hall when the NGOs (non-governmental organisations) came around. My daughter-in-law, who was pregnant at the time, received assistance from IPPF. She got some help with the buckets which helped the whole family. We were able to store fresh drinking water inside.   Stories Read more stories about our work in Fiji after the Cyclone Winston

Julie was a midwife with the Ministry of Health for 20 years before she joined the Vanuatu Family Health Association (VFHA) as nurse and project manager for IPPF's SPRINT Initiative response in Vanuatu. When Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu, the SPRINT Initiative and VHFA started providing life-saving services to the Island, Tanna, which was the population worst affected by the typhoon. Many communities there live remotely, in grass huts, with no immediate access to medical care.  Julie was there with the VFHA team. “When I first came here we used the kitchen to operate from. On my second trip, we created a clinic in our youth centre, and used the nearby health post for clinical procedures. Soon we saw more patients pouring in, which created a huge demand for space." Health conditions are very low. Even before the cyclone hit the island, it was reported that the average mother loses two pregnancies each, in her lifetime. Every person in the village knows at least one mother who has died during child birth. Access and knowledge to family planning is overlooked as traditional practices are used first. As Julie explains, advocating about family planning is a challenge in the area, also for language barriers. “Talking about birth-spacing and talking in the regional dialect of Tanna is a problem. Most of us in Vanuatu speak Bislama, but people here in Tanna aren’t well versed with it. However, we try our level best with all possible methods including sign language and demos to impart knowledge about family planning.” Family planning services are just a part of the IPPF-SPRINT Cyclone Pam response, that also included general health check-up, counselling and awareness about Sexual and Gender Based Violence, maternal care and awareness and prevention of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI).