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 accomplish the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In 2004, WHO published a reproductive health method — validated 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 constant value of sexual health in attaining health for all.

WHO researchers dealt with Member States, civil society and communities across all areas to operationalize a Global Strategy to cover the five key pillars for enhancing SRHR:

— improving antenatal, perinatal, postpartum and newborn care

— offering family preparation services

— getting rid of risky abortion

— fighting sexually transferred infections (STIs).

— promoting sexual health.

Resolution WHA57.12 further notified SRHR policies and directing documents in several areas 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 strategy) both include language and concepts reinforcing and promoting SRHR.

» The international method is the foundational policy document that centres WHO’s required for sexual and reproductive health to date,» said Dr Pascale Allotey, Director of the UN Special Programme on Human Reproduction (HRP) and WHO’s of Sexual and Reproductive Health. «The text remains crucial in adding to directing research top priorities and working with countries to establish useful resources to ensure extensive SRHR throughout the life course.»

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

— The Global technique happened as the world was reeling from the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Today, the number of individuals getting HIV has actually fallen by 38% considering that 2010 alone, due in part to the Strategy’s focus on eliminating STIs consisting of HIV.

— Since March 2022, 60% of WHO Member States have consisted of the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) in their routine immunization schedules, greatly advancing efforts to get rid of cervical cancer as a public health hazard.

— Prioritizing household planning services and contraception access led to WHO’s Family preparation: a global handbook for providers reference guide, which has been disseminated over a million times. Accordingly, the proportion of women using modern contraceptive methods increased from 467 million in 1990 to 874 million in 2022, while a broader variety of contraceptive alternatives is now offered.

A 2020 study found that there has actually been an around the world decline in unintended pregnancy. Furthermore, evidence-based medical abortion programs have actually enhanced worldwide access to abortion, and over 60 countries have liberalized abortion laws in the previous thirty years in line with proof on the importance of such efforts to guarantee the health of females and adolescent girls.

Professor Kate Gilmore, co-chair of the Gender and Human Rights Advisory Panel of HRP, credited the Strategy and WHO for helping generate essential scientific proof on SRHR that has actually added to some of these shifts. «A few of the fantastic advances that we have actually seen — including the method civil society has actually used up the cause to argue for access to safe and legal abortion — are because of the Strategy and the methodical generation of evidence over these previous 20 years,» she stated.

Despite early gains, nevertheless, recent years have seen indications of stagnation. From 2000 to 2020, the maternal death rate come by 34% around the world — but a 2023 report found that progress has actually mainly stalled because. The worrisome pattern was illustrated during a recent event showcasing worldwide datasets on the evolution of SRHR since ICPD. High maternal death rates continue a few countries and sexual health issues, such as endometriosis, infertility and sexual erectile dysfunction, are frequently ignored or stabilized.

Dr Allotey and Dr Manjulaa Narasimhan, researcher at WHO and HRP, noted in a current commentary in the WHO Bulletin that the SRHR agenda stays incomplete and in some instances has actually regressed due to geopolitical tensions, economic downturns, the global food crisis, environment modification, humanitarian crises and COVID-19.

There are emerging chances to catalyse progress — for example, by improving human rights-based approaches in SRHR and embedding concepts like non-discrimination, consisting of in crisis circumstances. Improving health systems with a primary health-care method can improve equity and broaden access to detailed SRHR services. New technologies and alternative service delivery approaches can enhance SRHR by broadening gain access to, choice and autonomy.

Other future-looking focus locations within SRHR consist of research on the transformative function of synthetic intelligence and ingenious birth control methods, more deal with strengthening health systems, and the enduring prioritization of favorable pregnancy and childbirth experiences.

At a more comprehensive level, Dr Allotey called for a continued emphasis on the foundational importance of SRHR. «Sexual and reproductive health must never be relegated to the margins of health care, however recognized as important for the total wellness of people and the communities in which they live,» she said.