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 greatest requirement of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In 2004, WHO released a reproductive health strategy – validated by 191 Member States at the Fifty-seventh World Health Assembly – that strengthened the centrality of SRHR to societies and economies (Resolution WHA57.12). These frameworks are grounded in gender equality and recognize the constant value of sexual health in achieving health for all.

WHO scientists worked with Member States, civil society and communities across all areas to operationalize a Worldwide Strategy to cover the five essential pillars for improving SRHR:

– improving antenatal, perinatal, postpartum and newborn care

– providing family preparation services

– eliminating risky abortion

– fighting sexually sent infections (STIs).

– promoting sexual health.

Resolution WHA57.12 additional notified SRHR policies and assisting files in numerous regions and Member States. For instance, Latin America’s 2013 Montevideo Consensus and Africa’s Maputo Plan of Action from 2016 (structure upon the initial 2006 plan) both include language and ideas reinforcing and upholding SRHR.

» The worldwide technique is the fundamental policy file that centres WHO’s mandate for sexual and reproductive health to date,» said Dr Pascale Allotey, Director of the UN Special Programme on Human Reproduction (HRP) and WHO’s Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health. «The text stays essential in adding to guiding research study concerns and working with countries to develop useful resources to ensure detailed SRHR across the life course.»

Significant development has actually been made over the last twenty years within each of the 5 pillars, consisting of these examples.

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

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

– Prioritizing household services and birth control gain access to led to WHO’s Family preparation: an international handbook for providers recommendation guide, which has been shared over a million times. Accordingly, the proportion of ladies using contemporary contraceptive methods increased from 467 million in 1990 to 874 million in 2022, while a wider variety of contraceptive options is now available.

A 2020 research study discovered that there has been a worldwide reduction in unintentional pregnancy. Furthermore, evidence-based medical abortion programs have improved global access to abortion, and over 60 countries have actually liberalized abortion laws in the past 30 years in line with proof on the importance of such efforts to guarantee the health of ladies and teen women.

Professor Kate Gilmore, co-chair of the Gender and Human Rights Advisory Panel of HRP, credited the Strategy and WHO for assisting generate crucial clinical proof on SRHR that has actually contributed to some of these shifts. «A few of the terrific advances that we’ve seen – consisting of the way civil society has taken up the cause to argue for access to safe and legal abortion – are because of the Strategy and the systematic generation of evidence over these past 20 years,» she said.

Despite early gains, nevertheless, recent years have actually seen signs of stagnancy. From 2000 to 2020, the maternal death rate visited 34% around the world – however a 2023 report discovered that progress has actually largely stalled because. The worrisome pattern was highlighted throughout a recent event showcasing worldwide datasets on the evolution of SRHR since ICPD. High maternal death rates continue a couple of nations and sexual health concerns, such as endometriosis, infertility and sexual erectile dysfunction, are typically neglected or normalized.

Dr Allotey and Dr Manjulaa Narasimhan, scientist at WHO and HRP, noted in a recent commentary in the WHO Bulletin that the SRHR agenda stays incomplete and in some instances has fallen back due to geopolitical stress, financial recessions, the international food crisis, environment modification, humanitarian crises and COVID-19.

There are emerging chances to catalyse progress – for example, by enhancing human rights-based methods in SRHR and embedding concepts like non-discrimination, including in crisis situations. Improving health systems with a primary health-care approach can boost equity and broaden access to detailed SRHR services. New technologies and alternative service shipment approaches can improve SRHR by broadening access, choice and autonomy.

Other future-looking focus locations within SRHR consist of research on the transformative role of synthetic intelligence and innovative contraception techniques, additional work on strengthening health systems, and the enduring prioritization of favorable pregnancy and giving birth experiences.

At a more comprehensive level, Dr Allotey called for an ongoing focus on the fundamental importance of SRHR. «Sexual and reproductive health need to never be relegated to the margins of healthcare, but acknowledged as vital for the overall wellness of people and the communities in which they live,» she said.