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 standard of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In 2004, WHO published a reproductive health strategy – validated by 191 Member States at the Fifty-seventh World Health Assembly – that reinforced the centrality of SRHR to societies and economies (Resolution WHA57.12). These frameworks are grounded in gender equality and recognize the unvarying significance of sexual health in attaining health for all.

WHO scientists dealt with Member States, civil society and neighborhoods throughout all regions to operationalize a Global Strategy to cover the five key pillars for enhancing SRHR:

– enhancing antenatal, perinatal, postpartum and newborn care

– providing household planning services

– eliminating hazardous abortion

– fighting sexually transferred infections (STIs).

– promoting sexual health.

Resolution WHA57.12 additional informed SRHR policies and assisting documents in a number of areas and Member States. For instance, Latin America’s 2013 Montevideo Consensus and Africa’s Maputo Plan of Action from 2016 (building upon the original 2006 plan) both include and concepts reinforcing and supporting SRHR.

” The global strategy is the foundational policy document 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 stays crucial in adding to guiding research top priorities and dealing with nations to establish beneficial resources to ensure thorough SRHR across the life course.”

Significant development has actually been made over the last 20 years within each of the five pillars, consisting of these examples.

– The Global technique came about as the world was reeling from the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Today, the variety of individuals obtaining HIV has actually fallen by 38% considering that 2010 alone, due in part to the Strategy’s emphasis on getting rid of STIs consisting of HIV.

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

– Prioritizing household preparation services and birth control access led to WHO’s Family preparation: a global handbook for service providers recommendation guide, which has actually been disseminated over a million times. Accordingly, the percentage of females using contemporary contraceptive methods increased from 467 million in 1990 to 874 million in 2022, while a wider range of contraceptive options is now available.

A 2020 research study discovered that there has been a worldwide decrease in unintended pregnancy. Furthermore, evidence-based medical abortion routines have actually enhanced 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 make sure the health of females and teen girls.

Professor Kate Gilmore, co-chair of the Gender and Human Rights Advisory Panel of HRP, credited the Strategy and WHO for assisting create important scientific evidence on SRHR that has actually contributed to some of these shifts. “A few of the fantastic 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 organized generation of proof over these past 2 decades,” she stated.

Despite early gains, however, recent years have actually seen signs of stagnation. From 2000 to 2020, the maternal death rate visited 34% worldwide – however a 2023 report found that progress has mainly stalled given that. The worrisome trend was illustrated during a recent event showcasing global datasets on the evolution of SRHR considering that ICPD. High maternal death rates continue in a few countries and sexual health problems, such as endometriosis, infertility and sexual erectile dysfunction, are typically 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 agenda remains unfinished and in some circumstances has regressed due to geopolitical stress, financial declines, the international food crisis, environment modification, humanitarian crises and COVID-19.

There are emerging opportunities to catalyse progress – for instance, by boosting human rights-based methods in SRHR and embedding principles like non-discrimination, including in crisis situations. Improving health systems with a main health-care approach can boost equity and broaden access to thorough SRHR services. New technologies and alternative service shipment techniques can enhance SRHR by expanding access, option and autonomy.

Other future-looking focus areas within SRHR include research study on the transformative function of synthetic intelligence and innovative birth control approaches, more deal with reinforcing health systems, and the sustaining prioritization of favorable pregnancy and childbirth experiences.

At a wider level, Dr Allotey called for an ongoing emphasis on the foundational importance of SRHR. “Sexual and reproductive health need to never be relegated to the margins of health care, however acknowledged as crucial for the general well-being of individuals and the neighborhoods in which they live,” she said.