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

Thirty years ago, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo, Egypt, highlighted the right of all individuals to achieve the highest requirement of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In 2004, WHO released a reproductive health technique – validated by 191 Member States at the Fifty-seventh World Health Assembly – that enhanced the centrality of SRHR to societies and economies (Resolution WHA57.12). These frameworks are grounded in gender equality and acknowledge the constant importance of sexual health in achieving health for all.

WHO scientists worked with Member States, civil society and neighborhoods across all areas to operationalize a Worldwide Strategy to cover the 5 crucial pillars for improving SRHR:

– enhancing antenatal, perinatal, postpartum and newborn care

– offering household preparation services

– eliminating risky abortion

– combatting sexually transferred infections (STIs).

– promoting sexual health.

Resolution WHA57.12 further notified SRHR policies and guiding documents in a number of areas and Member States. For example, Latin America’s 2013 Montevideo Consensus and Africa’s Maputo Plan of Action from 2016 (building upon the original 2006 plan) both consist of language and ideas enhancing and supporting SRHR.

” The worldwide method is the foundational 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 contributing to guiding research priorities and working with nations to develop beneficial resources to guarantee extensive SRHR throughout the life course.”

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

– The Global technique came about 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 emphasis on eliminating STIs consisting of HIV.

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

– Prioritizing family preparation services and birth control gain access to caused WHO’s Family planning: a worldwide handbook for companies recommendation guide, which has been shared over a million times. Accordingly, the proportion of females utilizing modern contraceptive methods increased from 467 million in 1990 to 874 million in 2022, while a larger range of contraceptive alternatives is now offered.

A 2020 study found that there has been a worldwide reduction in unintended pregnancy. Furthermore, evidence-based medical abortion routines have enhanced worldwide access to abortion, and over 60 countries have liberalized abortion laws in the past thirty years in line with evidence on the value of such efforts to guarantee the health of females and teen ladies.

Professor Kate Gilmore, co-chair of the Gender and Human Rights Advisory Panel of HRP, credited the Strategy and WHO for assisting generate essential clinical proof on SRHR that has added to a few of these shifts. “A few of the terrific advances that we have actually seen – including the way civil society has actually taken up the cause to argue for access to safe and legal abortion – are due to the Strategy and the organized generation of proof 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 mortality rate dropped by 34% around the world – however a 2023 report discovered that development has largely stalled since. The worrisome trend was illustrated during a current occasion showcasing worldwide datasets on the advancement of SRHR given that ICPD. High maternal mortality rates continue a few countries and sexual health concerns, such as endometriosis, and sexual erectile dysfunction, are frequently ignored or stabilized.

Dr Allotey and Dr Manjulaa Narasimhan, scientist at WHO and HRP, noted in a current commentary in the WHO Bulletin that the SRHR program remains incomplete and in some circumstances has regressed due to geopolitical tensions, financial declines, the worldwide food crisis, environment modification, humanitarian crises and COVID-19.

There are emerging opportunities to catalyse progress – for example, by improving human rights-based approaches in SRHR and embedding principles like non-discrimination, including in crisis situations. Improving health systems with a primary health-care technique can enhance equity and expand access to comprehensive SRHR services. New technologies and alternative service delivery techniques can improve SRHR by expanding access, choice and autonomy.

Other future-looking focus locations within SRHR include research on the transformative function of synthetic intelligence and innovative contraception approaches, further work on strengthening health systems, and the enduring prioritization of favorable pregnancy and childbirth experiences.

At a wider level, Dr Allotey called for a continued emphasis on the fundamental importance of SRHR. “Sexual and reproductive health should never ever be relegated to the margins of healthcare, but acknowledged as critical for the overall wellness of individuals and the communities in which they live,” she stated.