“When I met this man, I thought I had been given another chance at love,” says 41-year-old Lungile*. She shifts uncomfortably on her seat. “I had no idea that things would turn out the way they did.” Initially, her second marriage brought renewed hope, until one day, “The once-loving man I married turned into a monster,” she says. He stopped buying food and clothes for his new family, and the trouble began when she a...

For humanity to progress, people must be counted in all their diversity, wherever they are and whoever they are. These were the words of UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem this World Population Day. Indeed, to go uncounted is to be made invisible and as a result, left unserved. This contributes to a displaced 10-year-old girl being left with no health care.

“The items we received have proven incredibly durable. Throughout all the times we have had to move from place to place, we carried them with us, and they have continued to be useful to this day,” Shanil Nyamula says. In early 2024, Malawi was hit by devastating flash floods. Shanil and her sister were aware that a storm had hit parts of the country and they had visited a neighboring community in need of aid.