In 2025, as crises multiply and conflicts become increasingly protracted, humanitarian aid budgets are being slashed across the board. Yet in many emergency settings, it is ordinary people – and especially women and girls – who are feeling the sharpest impact of these cuts.

For those caught up in crises that have already been neglected for years, the fallout is all the more brutal. But what does chronic underfunding look like?

It means not having enough midwives to support women in labour, or sufficient medicines and equipment to handle childbirth complications. It’s safe spaces that have to close their doors to survivors of violence, and a lack of family planning advice and supplies to help women and girls avoid unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

UNFPA’s new campaign shines a light on how record funding gaps are already impacting its life-saving work, and what’s urgently needed to contain the catastrophic repercussions for millions of women and girls.