7.5
SECURITY FROM WAR, CONFLICT AND CRIME
Th e health and well-being of women and girls in a fractured world W e are living through a convergence of crises. Armed conflicts are escalating; disinformation is corroding trust; authoritarianism is shrinking democratic spaces. These crises collide with demographic shifts, the climate emergency and the looming threat of pandemics. The consequences for health and well-being are well documented. But the burden does not fall evenly: women and girls carry a disproportionate share of the costs. Evidence alone
In a world mired in conflict, disinformation and regression on rights, women and girls bear the brunt of failing health systems, with physical and mental well-being too often ignored or politicised. Evidence-based solutions exist – if the global community chooses to act
cannot move us forward. The step from knowledge to wisdom depends on political choice. Fragile and humanitarian settings are sites where sexual and reproductive health and rights collapse. Over 600 million women and girls now live in conflict-affected regions, an increase of 50% in just a decade. Women of reproductive age in areas of high-intensity conflict face three times the risk of mortality compared to their
Pascale Allotey, Inka Weissbecker and Alanna Galati, Department of Sexual, Reproductive, Health and Ageing, and Department of Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health, World Health Organization Maternal, Child and Adolescent
peers in peaceful settings. The use of sexual violence as a weapon of war has surged: United Nations monitoring documented a 25% rise in cases of conflict-related sexual violence in 2024 alone, with more than 4,600 survivors identified. This is an underestimation of the reality on the ground. The assaults are rarely isolated acts; they often involve multiple perpetrators, and are carried out systematically to terrorise populations and fracture communities.
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Health: A Political Choice – The Future of Health in a Fractured World
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