Colombo, 11 December 2025 – In the wake of Cyclone Ditwah, which triggered catastrophic floods and landslides across Sri Lanka, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has launched a USD 8.3 million humanitarian appeal to deliver urgent, life-saving support to women and girls whose health, safety, and dignity are increasingly at risk.

The cyclone, which made landfall on 28 November, has affected more than 2 million people across all 25 districts; destroying homes, damaging health facilities, and displacing hundreds of thousands. As communities struggle to recover amid loss and uncertainty, women and girls are facing heightened and overlapping vulnerabilities, including disrupted access to sexual and reproductive health services, increased exposure to gender-based violence, and mental distress. 

Among those affected are an estimated 520,000 women of reproductive age, including 22,570 pregnant women, and 193,770 elderly women. Damage to hospitals and clinics, as well as impassable roads from floodwater and debris, are severely restricting access to essential healthcare, including emergency obstetric services—placing mothers and newborns at heightened risk of morbidity and mortality. 

For thousands sheltering in evacuation centres, overcrowding and unsafe conditions are sharply increasing risks of violence, particularly for adolescent girls, older women, and women with disabilities.

“UNFPA, in close coordination with the Government of Sri Lanka, has been responding to the immediate needs of women and girls affected by the floods. Within 24 hours of the declaration of the state of public emergency, we dispatched 1,225 maternity and dignity kits to ensure continuity of essential care,” said Phuntsho Wangyel, UNFPA Officer-in-Charge for Sri Lanka. “But with the humanitarian crisis escalating, swift action is needed to ensure women and girls are not left behind.”

UNFPA is scaling up its response and is urgently mobilizing resources to reach more than 208,400 women and girls—including pregnant and lactating women, elderly women, and people with disabilities—with lifesaving sexual and reproductive health services, prevention and response to gender-based violence, and mental health and psychosocial support. 

“In emergencies, inaction costs lives—especially the lives of women, girls, newborns and the elderly,” Wangyel added. “With health systems under strain and communities displaced, ensuring safe births, protection from violence, and access to essential care, including psychosocial support, is critical.”

UNFPA’s response will prioritize re-establishment of access to critical sexual and reproductive health services by deploying mobile health clinics to reach displaced and hard-to-reach communities; distributing essential items such as maternity kits, dignity kits, and midwifery go-bags; and restoring damaged health clinics. It will also enhance the safety of women and girls by providing cash assistance to vulnerable women; conducting safety audits of evacuation centres; supporting women and girls’ safe spaces; and strengthening referral pathways for survivors of gender-based violence. Mental health and psychosocial support services will also be scaled up to address trauma and distress caused by displacement, loss and uncertainty.

With only 2.5 per cent of the appeal currently funded, UNFPA warns that without immediate support, critical gaps in care will widen—and women and girls will be left bearing the consequences. The agency urges governments, donors and the international community to act swiftly to help ensure lifesaving services are available to those who need them most.

For more information or interviews requests, please contact: 
Ayuni Munasinghe (Sri Lanka, Country Office): munasinghe@unfpa.org
Katie Elles (Bangkok, Regional Office): elles@unfpa.org