Media Centre

A new report by Plan International Australia has found the effects of the so-called polycrisis – the simultaneous and overlapping crises of cost of living, climate disasters, food insecurity and conflict around the world – has severely affected the ability of young women and girls to access menstrual health and hygiene information and products, and safely manage their periods. 

Plan International is responding in the aftermath of powerful cyclonic storm Mocha, which yesterday crossed southeast Bangladesh and Myanmar, hitting refugee camps and communities.

Plan International Australia welcome the Australian Government’s ongoing commitment to the foreign aid budget, particularly in the current fiscal environment. This is recognition of the critical role our international development program plays in supporting poverty alleviation and a peaceful and stable region. We also acknowledge that the Australian Government has stabilised the aid budget by locking in growth at 2.5% a year from 2026-2027. This is a very welcome step. However, Australia must step up as a global leader. Australia’s current aid budget does not reflect the need driven by compounding crises: the pandemic has resulted in an increase in poverty, and widening inequality, particularly when it comes to gender equality. Children and young people, especially girls, are disproportionately impacted by multidimensional poverty, made worse by an increase in protracted crises, COVID-19 and climate related disasters.   

Families are being separated by private contractors offering transport out of Sudan, Plan International has been told, raising concerns about the safety of children and girls as conflict in Sudan escalates. As the conflict in Sudan enters its third week, a growing number of refugees, returnees and third country nationals continue to cross into neighbouring countries – South Sudan, Egypt and Chad – with families using buses and trucks and paying hefty fees to flee the violence in their country.

Leading child rights organisation, Plan International Australia, is urging the Australian government to prioritise protecting the rights of children to an education when they are affected by humanitarian emergencies by committing AUD $24 million over three years to the Education Cannot Wait (ECW) fund.  

The plight of families, especially children and girls, in Sudan remains uncertain amid ongoing conflict, increasing concern for their wellbeing and safety. As an international development and humanitarian organisation, Plan International is urgently calling for the protection of children from the conflict and stands with the children and families across Sudan who have already experienced high levels of trauma, protection risks and hardship.

Plan International Australia is urging the Australian Government to significantly increase funding towards the global hunger crisis, as the humanitarian situation in Somalia deteriorates even further. The child rights organisation, together with leaders from the Somali diaspora community and a coalition of humanitarian organisations in Canberra this week, has stressed the urgency around calls for a $110 million famine prevention package.

Child rights and humanitarian organisation Plan International is extremely concerned for the safety and welfare of children and their families after Cyclone Freddy pummelled southern Africa for a second time in a month.