There is no greater indication of a country’s strength and stability than the status of its women and girls. Despite this fact, many current health policies tend to sideline sexual and reproductive health and rights—the cornerstone of women’s and girls’ wellbeing. Entire societies suffer if:
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| The Women's Life Center, run by women in João Pessoa, Brazil, offers a safe space for women to congregate, learn skills, and organize. |
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women and girls cannot control the circumstances under which they have sex, and if, when, and how often they become pregnant;
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women and girls cannot live healthy lives free from violence, coercion, sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and discrimination;
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women and girls lack access to the basic information and services they need to achieve sexual and reproductive health. more>>
In this Section>>
Health Sector Reforms. Reforms in the health sector have been widely adopted by poor countries to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness in public health services. In this section you'll find information about IWHC's efforts to highlight implications of health sector reform for sexual and reproductive health at the global level, as well as in Bangladesh and other countries, and links to our free resources on health sector reform. more>>
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These broad and ambitious goals for achieving progress on development were adopted by world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, and they are now used by most countries and UN agencies as the organizing framework for action. Read IWHC's analysis of the MDGs, including a discussion of their implications for poverty reduction, control of HIV/AIDS, gender equality, child mortality, and maternal health. more>>
Collaborations with the UN System. IWHC collaborates frequently with World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the World Bank to ensure that girls’ and women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights remain central to population and health policies, and to help these agencies support full implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action at the country level. more>>
Photo by Virginia Ryan Joffe.
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