Reproductive Rights Policy in Central America-Who takes the lead?

Experienced and emerging sexual and reproductive rights leaders throughout Central America are taking the lead in fighting to maintain and create new policy that ensures reproductive rights and freedom for the regions' people. Evidence shows that training Latino leaders in diverse sectors and disciplines in the art of collaborative leadership and shared visioning translates into improved sexual and reproductive health policy at national, institutional, and community levels. Graduates of International Health Programs(IHP) of the Public Health Institute's fellowship programs over the past seven years have collectively engaged in legislative, judicial and institutional advocacy; applying the highest level of ethical and strategic leadership competencies gained though their participation in IHP's International Family Planning Leadership Program (IFPLP) and Youth Leadership in Sexual and Reproductive Health Program (GOJoven). These physicians, media leaders, teachers, attorneys and youth development officers, to name only a few, are leading national advocacy campaigns to improve sexual education policy (Honduras), reverse the political decision that revokes the right of women to chose a therapeutic abortion (Nicaragua), create and adopt the HIV/AIDS law (El Salvador), pass the National Youth Development Policy (Belize) and pass the first Universal Access to Family Planning Law (Guatemala) in the region. IHP will highlight how a network of multi-sectoral, cross-generational, and multi-ethnic Latino women and men are strengthening the regional movement towards evidence-based reproductive and sexual health policy. Together they will continue to successfully influence legislators, win cases in Constitutional Courts, and institutionalize state of the art educational and health policies and practices in Ministries of Health, Education and Finance throughout the Region.