With each passing day, the scale of the COVID-19 crisis and its consequences are becoming ever more apparent and alarming. UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, stands in solidarity with all those responding to the novel coronavirus.

The girl was in coma when police brought her to the centre. She [had been] gang raped and badly beaten. We got her admitted at Juba Teaching Hospital in a frantic effort […] to save her life.” The seriously injured girl was assisted by Fatuma Tarjan, a response officer for gender-based violence at the Family Protection Centre based at Juba Teaching Hospital.

The year began with the excitement of a new Decade of Action on delivering the SDGs and renewed energy brought about by the immensely successful Nairobi Summit on ICPD25. Who would have guessed that, just ten weeks later, the world would mobilize on an unprecedented scale to confront the COVID-19 pandemic?