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

Thirty years earlier, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), kept in Cairo, Egypt, highlighted the right of all individuals to attain the greatest standard of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In 2004, WHO published 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 changeless value of sexual health in achieving health for all.

WHO researchers worked with Member States, civil society and neighborhoods across all regions to operationalize an International Strategy to cover the five crucial pillars for enhancing SRHR:

- improving antenatal, perinatal, postpartum and newborn care

- supplying household preparation services

- eliminating unsafe abortion

- fighting sexually sent infections (STIs).

- promoting sexual health.

Resolution WHA57.12 further notified SRHR policies and directing files in several areas and Member States. For instance, Latin America's 2013 Montevideo Consensus and Africa's Maputo Plan of Action from 2016 (building upon the initial 2006 plan) both include language and ideas strengthening and supporting SRHR.

" The international strategy is the fundamental 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 Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health. "The text stays important in adding to assisting research concerns and working with nations to develop useful resources to make sure 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 strategy happened as the world was reeling from the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Today, the number of people obtaining HIV has fallen by 38% because 2010 alone, due in part to the Strategy's emphasis on getting rid of STIs consisting of HIV.

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

- Prioritizing household planning services and birth control access caused WHO's Family preparation: a global handbook for companies reference guide, which has been distributed over a million times. Accordingly, the proportion of ladies using modern contraceptive techniques increased from 467 million in 1990 to 874 million in 2022, while a wider variety of contraceptive alternatives is now offered.


A 2020 research study discovered that there has actually been an around the world reduction in unexpected pregnancy. Furthermore, evidence-based medical abortion routines have access to abortion, and over 60 countries have actually liberalized abortion laws in the previous 30 years in line with evidence on the value of such efforts to make sure the health of females and adolescent ladies.

Professor Kate Gilmore, co-chair of the Gender and Human Rights Advisory Panel of HRP, credited the Strategy and WHO for assisting produce crucial clinical evidence on SRHR that has actually added to some of these shifts. "Some of the excellent advances that we've seen - including the method civil society has taken up the cause to argue for access to safe and legal abortion - are due to the Strategy and the organized generation of evidence over these past 2 years," she stated.

Despite early gains, nevertheless, current years have actually seen indications of stagnation. From 2000 to 2020, the maternal mortality rate dropped by 34% worldwide - but a 2023 report found that development has actually mainly stalled given that. The worrisome pattern was highlighted during a recent event showcasing international datasets on the evolution of SRHR since ICPD. High maternal death rates continue in a few countries and sexual health issues, such as endometriosis, infertility and sexual erectile dysfunction, are often ignored or normalized.

Dr Allotey and Dr Manjulaa Narasimhan, researcher at WHO and HRP, noted in a recent commentary in the WHO Bulletin that the SRHR program remains unfinished and in some circumstances 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 boosting human rights-based approaches in SRHR and embedding concepts like non-discrimination, including in crisis situations. Improving health systems with a main health-care approach can enhance equity and expand access to extensive SRHR services. New innovations and alternative service shipment techniques can enhance SRHR by broadening gain access to, choice and autonomy.

Other future-looking focus areas within SRHR include research on the transformative function of expert system and innovative birth control methods, additional deal with enhancing health systems, and the sustaining prioritization of favorable pregnancy and childbirth experiences.

At a broader level, Dr Allotey required an ongoing focus on the foundational value of SRHR. "Sexual and reproductive health ought to never ever be relegated to the margins of health care, but recognized as critical for the total wellness of people and the communities in which they live," she said.