Sexual and reproductive issues are universal concerns affecting every human being, yet they are inadequately addressed in the global development agenda. Millennium Development Goals only included a target on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) seven years after the initial implementation of the goals, and understandably failed to foster comprehensive progress. In this sense, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include the target 3.7 on sexual and reproductive health-care services, should be considered an improvement, yet the Guttmacher Institute, a leading US-based organization advocating for SRHR, sees the SDG approach as too narrow, largely due to the influence of conservative forces in undermining the progress of sexual and reproductive issues worldwide. SRHR issues are critical for the realisation of several of the goals, being most directly linked to the goals 3, 4 and 5, of health, education and gender equality, whilst also being central to the broader development agenda.
To address the shortfalls of the UN processes regarding SRHR issues the Guttmacher Institute together with the Lancet has launched an international commission to work on an advanced agenda on SRHR issues in the post-2015 world. The commission, co-chaired by Ann Starrs, President and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, and Dr. Alex Ezeh, Executive Director of the African Population Health Research Center, consists of 14 commissioners, who are distinguished experts from an array of public health related disciplines coming from all over the world, ensuring that the work of the commission will be of the highest quality. Professor Ilona Kickbusch, Director of the Global Health Programme, is one of the appointed commissioners.
The commission aims to develop a wide-ranging and evidence-based agenda for the key SRHR priorities for the next 15 year, paying particular attention to the needs of vulnerable and neglected populations. Moreover, the commission will heavily encourage the adoption of policies that will turn its vision into reality. The commission will focus not only on the core sexual and reproductive health and rights topics such as contraceptive use, sexually transmitted infections and maternal and newborn health, but will also focus on often-neglected components of SRHR such as safe abortion services, nondiscrimination in access to services and care, and the general need for high-quality and confidential services which are widely available. The lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services on a non-discriminatory and well-informed basis is not only an individual and public health concern, but also has negative economic, and other social consequences. Nevertheless, many core SRHR issues such as access to safe abortion and sexual rights remain controversial in policy making circles, and have been left out from the SDG framework. Therefore the commission’s task to articulate vision, define priorities and produce recommendations based on rigorous evidence is timely. By that the commission aims on broadening the view of sexual and reproductive issues as part of the international development agenda.
The co-chair Ann Starrs says: “A new agenda for sexual and reproductive health and rights is needed that recognises the full scope of people's sexual and reproductive health needs, and enables all people to choose whether, when, and with whom to engage in sexual activity; to choose whether and when to have children; and to access the means to do so in good health.”1
The Guttmacher-Lancet commission has begun its work on 1st February 2016 with a first meeting of the commissioners in New York. The final report of the commission is set to be published in the Lancet in 2017.
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