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

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

- enhancing antenatal, perinatal, postpartum and newborn care

- offering family planning services

- getting rid of unsafe abortion

- fighting sexually transferred infections (STIs).

- promoting sexual health.

Resolution WHA57.12 more notified SRHR policies and guiding documents in numerous regions and Member States. For example, Latin America's 2013 Montevideo Consensus and Africa's Maputo Plan of Action from 2016 (building upon the initial 2006 strategy) both include language and concepts strengthening and promoting SRHR.

" The international technique is the fundamental policy file that centres WHO's required 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 remains essential in contributing to assisting research priorities and working with countries to establish useful resources to ensure thorough SRHR throughout the life course."

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

- The Global strategy happened as the world was reeling from the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Today, the variety of people getting HIV has actually fallen by 38% considering that 2010 alone, due in part to the Strategy's emphasis on removing STIs including HIV.

- As of 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 hazard.

- Prioritizing household planning services and contraception access led to WHO's Family preparation: a worldwide handbook for suppliers reference guide, which has been distributed over a million times. Accordingly, the proportion of females utilizing contemporary contraceptive techniques increased from 467 million in 1990 to 874 million in 2022, while a wider variety of contraceptive options is now offered.


A 2020 research study discovered that there has been an around the world decline in unintentional pregnancy. Furthermore, evidence-based medical abortion regimens have actually improved worldwide access to abortion, and over 60 nations have actually liberalized abortion laws in the previous thirty years in line with evidence on the significance of such efforts to make sure the health of women 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 important scientific proof on SRHR that has actually contributed to a few of these shifts. "Some of the excellent advances that we've seen - including the method civil society has actually 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, nevertheless, recent years have actually seen signs of stagnation. From 2000 to 2020, the maternal mortality rate come by 34% around the world - but a 2023 report found that progress has largely stalled considering that. The uneasy trend was illustrated during a current occasion showcasing international datasets on the evolution of SRHR considering that ICPD. High maternal death rates persist in a few nations and sexual health issues, such as endometriosis, infertility and sexual erectile dysfunction, are often ignored or normalized.

Dr Allotey and Dr Manjulaa Narasimhan, scientist at WHO and HRP, kept in mind in a recent commentary in the WHO Bulletin that the SRHR program remains incomplete and in some circumstances has regressed due to geopolitical stress, economic downturns, the global food crisis, climate modification, humanitarian crises and COVID-19.

There are emerging chances to catalyse progress - for example, by boosting human rights-based methods in SRHR and embedding principles like non-discrimination, including in crisis situations. Improving health systems with a primary health-care method can enhance equity and expand access to thorough SRHR services. New innovations and alternative service delivery approaches can enhance SRHR by expanding access, option and autonomy.

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

At a wider level, Dr Allotey called for a continued focus on the fundamental importance of SRHR. "Sexual and reproductive health should never be relegated to the margins of healthcare, however recognized as important for the general wellness of people and the neighborhoods in which they live," she stated.