Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Sofia Gruskin, JD, MIA, International Health and Human Rights Program., Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, 651 Huntington Ave., 7th floor, Boston, MA 02115, 617-432-4315, sgruskin@hsph.harvard.edu

The 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development helped foster and define the policies and programs relating to reproductive and sexual health and rights of the past decade. Governments, the organs and agencies of the United Nations system, and non-governmental organizations, adapted their discourse as well as their operations, to address reproductive and sexual health more fully, and move beyond the confines of traditional family planning approaches. Not only did this bring new strength and resources to previously existing efforts, but projects now exist in all corners of the globe which through their very existence demonstrate the value of this wider conceptualization. It is an unfortunate sign of the times that many of us concerned with reproductive and sexual health and rights are now having to focus less on advancing this work than reacting to political and ideological challenges to the consensus forged at Cairo. Arguing for the very existence of many of the components long well established to be key elements of "reproductive health and rights",means that there is an urgent need to provide the hard evidence of the difference that the Cairo agenda can make to effectively address the reproductive and sexual health needs of populations, particularly vulnerable populations. This presentation will summarize the current trends and provide examples of work in this area which highlight the value of paying attention to rights.

Learning Objectives:

• * Learn about positive examples of implementation of reproductive and sexual health and rights
• * Identify challenges and opportunities in implementing reproductive and sexual health and rights in the current global political climate

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation