Marge Berer<\/p>\n
Editor, Reproductive Health Matters<\/p>\n
What has gone wrong at WHO? The Lancet\u2019s Offline report (31 May) <\/a>\u00a0of what they call \u201cWHO\u2019s definitive statement about the future it envisions for the post-2015 era of sustainable development\u201d signals a serious regression by WHO away from championing its own policies of many years, and makes for a distressing read. Among the policies WHO should be promoting for the post-2015 agenda setting must surely be:<\/p>\n i) the right to the highest attainable standard of health, as one of the fundamental rights of every\u00a0human being, a goal which has underpinned WHO\u2019s work since it was founded in 1948,<\/p>\n ii) universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and<\/p>\n iii) strengthening of health systems, taking into account the social and economic determinants of\u00a0health.<\/p>\n \u201cUniversal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights\u201d is in line with WHO\u2019s 2004 The most important international bodies and leaders currently support the inclusion of universal\u00a0access to sexual and reproductive health as a crucial goal in its own right under the overarching health goal in the post-2015 agenda, and add reproductive rights to this also under gender equality. The Stockholm Statement of Commitment <\/a>agreed by 260 Parliamentarians from 134 countries at the Sixth IPCI\/ICPD Conference in April 2014 states that access to sexual and reproductive health and rights is\u00a0an \u2018indispensable component\u2019 of the post-2015 development framework. On July 4th a letter from Parliamentarians around the world<\/a>\u00a0addressed to Dr Margaret Chan, Director General of the WHO, expressed their concern about the omission of reproductive health and \u2018strongly\u2019 support for the Stockholm statement.<\/p>\n Moreover, in consultation after consultation, numerous national and international civil society\u00a0organisations have called for the inclusion of reproductive and sexual health and rights as an\u00a0integrated whole as well.<\/p>\n It is a serious mistake on WHO\u2019s part to try to bury this issue under Universal Health Coverage, where it will get lost in a sea of competing finance-oriented interests. To do so discounts the consistent support for these goals by the World Health Assembly as well as the work of countless WHO staff and expert advisors.<\/p>\n There are other indications of a systematic pushback and regression away from work on sexual and\u00a0reproductive health and rights at WHO as well. It is not reflected as a priority in the 12th WHO\u00a0Global Programme of Work, nor in the just published Health for the World\u2019s Adolescents, an\u00a0unprecedented omission. This cannot be taken lightly.<\/p>\n Friends of WHO must do everything they can to ensure WHO assumes its leadership role on these\u00a0issues again and does not fall back on its longstanding commitments.<\/p>\n This article was originally published<\/a> in RHM Blog: The Blog for Reproductive Health Matters<\/a> on July 08, 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nReproductive Health Strategy, approved by the 57th World Health Assembly <\/a>\u00a0and reflects more than\u00a0four decades of work by the Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in\u00a0Human Reproduction (HRP), based at WHO, and most recently a resolution at the 67th World Health\u00a0Assembly<\/a>.<\/p>\n