IRIN (Asia | Sri Lanka) – Monday 6 April, 2009
23-year-old Thanusiaya - a resident of the Nellukulum transit camp in Vavuniya - is one of scores of pregnant women who fled fighting in northern Sri Lanka and now needs assistance. Image: IRIN
VAVUNIYA, 6 April 2009 (IRIN) – Thousands of pregnant women caught up in the fighting between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are in urgent need of healthcare, according to aid workers.
“I was scared. I didn’t know if we were going to make it,” 23-year-old Thanusiya told IRIN. At eight months pregnant and after weeks of shelling, she and her husband escaped to the northern, government-controlled town of Vavuniya last month.
Given the number of civilians who have fled to government-controlled areas, coupled with those still trapped inside the conflict zone, the numbers of women in the same position as Thanusiya could easily be in the thousands. . .
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