Sexual and Reproductive Health for All: 20 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 accomplish the highest requirement of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In 2004, WHO published a reproductive health technique - ratified by 191 Member States at the Fifty-seventh World Health Assembly - that strengthened the midpoint 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 accomplishing health for all.

WHO researchers dealt with Member States, civil society and communities throughout all areas to operationalize an International Strategy to cover the 5 crucial pillars for improving SRHR:

- improving antenatal, perinatal, postpartum and newborn care

- supplying household planning services

- removing risky abortion

- combatting sexually sent infections (STIs).

- promoting sexual health.

Resolution WHA57.12 more 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 (building upon the original 2006 strategy) both include language and concepts strengthening and upholding SRHR.

" The international 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 contributing to assisting research concerns and dealing with nations to establish helpful resources to make sure extensive SRHR throughout the life course."

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

- The Global technique came about as the world was reeling from the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Today, the number of people acquiring HIV has fallen by 38% given that 2010 alone, due in part to the Strategy's emphasis on removing STIs including HIV.

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

- Prioritizing household preparation services and birth control gain access to caused WHO's Family preparation: an international handbook for suppliers referral guide, which has actually been shared over a million times. Accordingly, the proportion of females utilizing modern-day contraceptive approaches increased from 467 million in 1990 to 874 million in 2022, while a broader variety of contraceptive options is now readily available.


A 2020 research study found that there has actually been an around the world decrease in unintentional pregnancy. Furthermore, evidence-based medical abortion regimens have actually enhanced worldwide access to abortion, and over 60 nations have actually liberalized abortion laws in the previous 30 years in line with evidence on the value of such efforts to ensure the health of women 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 produce essential clinical evidence on SRHR that has added to some of these shifts. "A few of the terrific advances that we've seen - including the method civil society has 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 twenty years," she said.

Despite early gains, however, current years have actually seen signs of stagnation. From 2000 to 2020, the maternal death rate stopped by 34% around the world - but a 2023 report found that development has largely stalled since. The uneasy trend was illustrated during a current event showcasing international datasets on the development of SRHR given that ICPD. High maternal mortality rates continue a few nations and sexual health issues, such as endometriosis, infertility and sexual erectile dysfunction, are typically 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 remains incomplete and in some instances has actually regressed due to geopolitical stress, economic recessions, the global food crisis, environment change, humanitarian crises and COVID-19.

There are emerging chances to catalyse progress - for example, by boosting human rights-based techniques in SRHR and embedding principles like non-discrimination, consisting of in crisis circumstances. Improving health systems with a primary health-care technique can improve equity and expand access to detailed SRHR services. New technologies and alternative service delivery methods can by expanding gain access to, option and autonomy.

Other future-looking focus areas within SRHR include research on the transformative function of expert system and ingenious contraception methods, additional work on reinforcing health systems, and the enduring prioritization of positive pregnancy and childbirth experiences.

At a wider level, Dr Allotey required a continued focus on the fundamental significance of SRHR. "Sexual and reproductive health need to never ever be relegated to the margins of health care, but acknowledged as critical for the total well-being of people and the neighborhoods in which they live," she stated.