Sexual and Reproductive Health for All: 20 Years of The Global Strategy

Thirty years earlier, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo, Egypt, underscored the right of all people to attain the highest requirement of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In 2004, WHO published a reproductive health strategy – ratified by 191 Member States at the Fifty-seventh World Health Assembly – that enhanced the midpoint of SRHR to societies and economies (Resolution WHA57.12). These frameworks are grounded in gender equality and recognize the unvarying value of sexual health in accomplishing health for all.

WHO researchers worked with Member States, civil society and neighborhoods across all areas to operationalize an International Strategy to cover the 5 essential pillars for improving SRHR:

– enhancing antenatal, perinatal, postpartum and newborn care

– offering household planning services

– removing risky abortion

– combatting sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

– promoting sexual health.

Resolution WHA57.12 additional notified SRHR policies and guiding documents in numerous areas and Member States. For example, Latin America’s 2013 Montevideo Consensus and Africa’s Maputo Strategy from 2016 (building upon the initial 2006 plan) both include language and concepts reinforcing and supporting SRHR.

” The global strategy is the foundational policy file that centres WHO’s mandate for sexual and reproductive health to date,” stated Dr Pascale Allotey, Director of the UN Special Programme on Human Reproduction (HRP) and WHO’s Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health. ”The text remains essential in adding to directing research study concerns and dealing with countries to develop helpful resources to ensure comprehensive SRHR across the life course.”

Significant progress has actually been made over the last 20 years within each of the 5 pillars, including these examples.

– The Global strategy happened as the world was reeling from the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Today, the variety of people obtaining HIV has actually fallen by 38% given that 2010 alone, due in part to the Strategy’s focus on getting rid of STIs consisting of HIV.

– Since March 2022, 60% of WHO Member States have actually consisted of the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) in their regular immunization schedules, significantly advancing efforts to get rid of cervical cancer as a public health danger.

– Prioritizing household preparation services and contraception access led to WHO’s Family preparation: a worldwide handbook for suppliers recommendation guide, which has been shared over a million times. Accordingly, the proportion of women utilizing contemporary contraceptive techniques increased from 467 million in 1990 to 874 million in 2022, while a broader series of contraceptive options is now available.

A 2020 research study discovered that there has actually been an around the world decline in unintentional pregnancy. Furthermore, evidence-based medical abortion programs have actually enhanced worldwide access to abortion, and over 60 countries have actually liberalized abortion laws in the previous 30 years in line with proof on the significance of such efforts to guarantee the health of women and adolescent ladies.

Professor Kate Gilmore, co-chair of the Gender and Human Rights Advisory Panel of HRP, credited the Strategy and WHO for helping generate important clinical evidence on SRHR that has contributed to a few of these shifts. ”Some of the fantastic advances that we’ve seen – including the method civil society has used up the cause to argue for access to safe and legal abortion – are due to the Strategy and the systematic generation of proof over these previous 2 years,” she said.

Despite early gains, nevertheless, recent years have actually seen signs of stagnation. From 2000 to 2020, the maternal mortality rate visited 34% around the world – but a 2023 report found that progress has actually mostly stalled because. The worrisome pattern was shown throughout a current occasion showcasing global datasets on the advancement of SRHR since ICPD. High maternal mortality rates continue in a few countries and sexual health issues, such as endometriosis, infertility and sexual erectile dysfunction, are often neglected or .

Dr Allotey and Dr Manjulaa Narasimhan, scientist at WHO and HRP, noted in a current commentary in the WHO Bulletin that the SRHR agenda remains unfinished and in some circumstances has regressed due to geopolitical tensions, economic recessions, the international food crisis, climate modification, humanitarian crises and COVID-19.

There are emerging opportunities to catalyse progress – for instance, by improving human rights-based techniques in SRHR and embedding concepts like non-discrimination, including in crisis circumstances. Improving health systems with a primary health-care approach can boost equity and expand access to detailed SRHR services. New innovations and alternative service delivery techniques can enhance SRHR by broadening access, option and autonomy.

Other future-looking focus locations within SRHR include research study on the transformative function of synthetic intelligence and ingenious contraception methods, more work on enhancing health systems, and the withstanding prioritization of positive pregnancy and giving birth experiences.

At a more comprehensive level, Dr Allotey required an ongoing emphasis on the fundamental significance of SRHR. ”Sexual and reproductive health must never ever be relegated to the margins of health care, but recognized as vital for the general wellness of individuals and the neighborhoods in which they live,” she stated.