Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters

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Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters

Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights globally. www.srhm.org

04/02/2026

🤰 Biomedical advances mean women living with HIV can safely choose pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding without risking vertical transmission. Yet evidence shows their reproductive rights are still undermined by coercive practices in healthcare settings because of HIV-related stigma.

🌎 This global scoping review synthesised 13 studies across regions including Mexico, the United States and South Africa, documenting severe and pervasive forms of reproductive coercion by healthcare providers.

👉These include forced or covert sterilisation, forced abortion, restricted or imposed contraception, and coercion around caesarean sections and fertility decision-making.

✊ Despite variations in definitions and methods, the findings point to a clear and urgent need to expand research, strengthen prevention mechanisms, and invest in survivor-centred resources beyond legal remedies.

🔗 Read the full paper to understand the evidence and why action is long overdue: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2025.2588004

30/01/2026

🌎Recent changes to U.S. foreign assistance policy mark a significant escalation in how anti-rights ideology is shaping global health and development funding.

👉In a new episode of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters podcast, SRHM convenes leading experts and advocates to unpack the implications of three newly issued U.S. foreign assistance rules and what they mean for sexual and reproductive health and rights ( ) worldwide.

🎙️SRHM Chief Executive, Eszter Kismodi, is joined by Elizabeth Sully, Director of International Research at the Guttmacher Institute; Amy Friedrich-Karnik, Director of Federal Policy at the Guttmacher Institute; and Mina Barling, Director of External Relations at the International Planned Parenthood Federation - IPPF.

✊Together, they bring complementary perspectives spanning policy analysis, evidence generation, and frontline service delivery and advocacy.

Read the blog and listen here:
https://www.srhm.org/news/the-global-gag-rule-expanded/

27/01/2026

📣New research by Nished Rijal and Angel M. Foster examines pharmacy workers’ knowledge and practices around medication abortion in Nepal, where abortion pills may legally be dispensed by pharmacists with a prescription.

Drawing on surveys with nearly 500 pharmacy workers and in-depth interviews with 25 in Koshi prov🌏ince, the study finds strong awareness of the legal status and correct use of medication abortion. However, only around one in six pharmacies reported stocking abortion pills and dispensing them with a prescription. Barriers included lack of training, perceived legal and business risks, and supply chain challenges.

👉The findings highlight the potential of community-based pharmacies to expand access to safe, effective and accessible medication abortion care, if these barriers are addressed.

Read the full paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2026.2617716

26/01/2026

🎙️ New SRHM podcast episode!

🌍 Eszter Kismodi is joined by Allan Maleche (KELIN), Mercy Kalemela and Audrey Bigeti (Girls to Women Kenya) to unpack how extractivism and land extraction are impacting sexual and reproductive health and rights in Kenya.

🌍 From gold mining in Kakamega County to mercury exposure, land dispossession and rising risks of gender-based violence, this conversation centres the lived realities of women and girls, and shows why extractivism is a global SRHR issue, not just an economic one.

🎧 Read more and listen now:
https://www.srhm.org/news/extractivism-gold-mining-and-sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-rights-in-kenya-community-realities-and-wider-implications/

14/01/2026

🌍 The number of people forced to leave their homes due to conflict and violence is higher than ever. In displacement, everyday needs continue, including access to information and services about contraception, for those who wish to use it.

📄 This paper offers a framework for understanding contraceptive access in displacement, highlighting factors that enable or restrict access, such as cost, awareness of services, and perceived quality of care. Using the case of Syrians displaced to Türkiye following the escalation of the Syrian conflict in 2011, it examines different dimensions of access.

⚠️ Findings show that fear of side effects and other health concerns are key barriers to contraceptive use. Even among women using contraception, some were unable to access their preferred method, pointing to limits on contraceptive autonomy.

🔍 While focused on Syrians in Türkiye, the framework is applicable to other displacement settings. The paper also shows that gaps in available data remain a major barrier to understanding contraceptive access, and offers recommendations to strengthen the evidence base.

Read the full paper by Rosanna Le Voir here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2025.2607838

06/01/2026

📣New review article in the SRHM Journal:

🌍'From conception to care: a systematic review of the impact of the climate crisis on reproductive justice' by Martina Yopo Díaz, Valentina Gómez Aguirre & Loreto Watkins

🌏This systematic review examines how the climate crisis is reshaping reproductive health and rights. While no studies were found on how climate change affects people’s right not to have children, the evidence shows clear links between climate-related events and adverse reproductive outcomes, including higher rates of pregnancy loss, preterm birth and lower birthweight.

🌎Natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, heatwaves and droughts are also contributing to uncertainty about the future, influencing decisions to remain childless or have fewer children.

👉The authors argue that the climate crisis poses a direct threat to reproductive justice by undermining people’s ability to have children and raise families in safe and sustainable environments. They call for policies that go beyond climate mitigation to support adaptation, ensuring safer, more just futures for families and communities.

🔗 Read the full paper here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2025.2576365

05/01/2026

📢 First SRHM Journal research article of 2026

Balancing pragmatism, norms and power relations: a qualitative study among post-abortion intrauterine device users in central Uganda

🖊️ Emelie Looft-Trägårdh, Herbert Kayiga, Othman Kakaire, Josaphat Byamugisha, Kristina Gemzell-Danielsson & Amanda Cleeve

This qualitative study explores how women in Uganda navigated gender norms, power relations and socio-cultural barriers to using an intrauterine device (IUD) after treatment for abortion complications.

Drawing on interviews with 24 women from rural and urban settings, the research shows how decisions to use an IUD were grounded in women’s belief in their right to bodily autonomy, alongside pragmatic considerations around relationships, finances, and gender roles and responsibilities. Compassionate post-abortion contraceptive counselling was critical in dispelling misconceptions and supporting informed choice. For some women, covert IUD use enabled them to retain control over their reproductive lives in restrictive social contexts.

The findings highlight the importance of:
• Rights-based, high-quality post-abortion contraceptive counselling
• Strengthening women’s self-efficacy and decision-making power
• Addressing gender norms and power relations that constrain contraceptive choice

📄 Read the article in the SRHM Journal: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2025.2604886

12/12/2025

📣Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) is launching a themed issue on Trans and Gender Diverse Healthcare.

The field of trans and gender diverse healthcare has seen substantial advances, moving towards more comprehensive, evidence-based and patient-centred models of care. Despite these clinical and research advancements, the provision of trans and gender diverse healthcare has become severely politicised globally, creating a crisis that directly impedes the application of established medical science.

👉This complex environment underscores the urgent need for scholarly and community-based engagement to counter misinformation, defend the right to healthcare based on scientific knowledge, and advocate for policy frameworks that prioritise the health equity and wellbeing of all trans and gender diverse people.

This themed issue will be guest edited by Mauro Cabral Grinspan, in close collaboration with SRHM’s editorial team.

🌍We are welcoming emailed proposals for submissions to this themed issue on any of the topics on our website as they relate to trans and gender diverse healthcare.

Following assessment of the initial proposals, selected authors will be directly invited to submit their full manuscripts to the issue. Mentoring will be available for less-experienced authors, where required. Full details of requirements for proposals can be found at the end of this call.

🔗Read the full call for proposals: https://www.srhm.org/trans-and-gender-diverse-healthcare/

GATE - Global Action for Trans Equality

12/12/2025

🎙️ New SRHM Podcast Episode!

In our latest SRHM conversation, we speak with Naa Dodoo, Ramatou Ouedraogo and Béniel Agossou about ACORCA, the African Coalition for Research and Communication on Abortion. This movement which is building a stronger, evidence-driven movement for safe abortion across the continent.

They share powerful insights on:
🔹 why African leadership in abortion research and communication is essential
🔹 how evidence can shift narratives, challenge stigma and improve policy
🔹 strengthening capacity for young researchers across West and Central Africa
🔹 building a collaborative, pan-African community grounded in rights and justice

ACORCA’s work shows what’s possible when research, communication and advocacy come together to drive real change.

🎧 Listen to the episode and learn how this growing movement is advancing safe abortion access through African expertise, solidarity and knowledge.
https://www.srhm.org/news/acorca-building-an-african-led-movement-for-safe-abortion/

05/12/2025

🌍NEW RESEARCH PAPER ONLINE: This study explored the experiences of young South Africans living with HIV who became parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. It considered the personal, structural and relational factors that affected this group, and their experiences of seeking sexual and reproductive health services during COVID-19.

👉The study found that while these young people were knowledgeable about their healthcare, they struggled to navigate the changed health system during the pandemic.

👉It shows their efforts to manage their health, despite significant gaps in health and social services.

🌍This research used practice theory to understand how gender, relationships, social factors and geography affected their experiences. It highlights the need for resilient health and social systems that can continue providing essential SRH services to young people living with HIV, even during crises.

Read the full paper by
Lesley Gittings ,Jane F. Kelly, Nokubonga Ralayo, Sally Medley, Jenny Chen-Charles, Lucie Cluver & Elona Toska https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2025.2597089

01/12/2025

🔴 On 1 December, the world marks World AIDS Day 2025 under the theme: “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response.”

👉After decades of progress, the HIV response stands at a critical crossroads. Life-saving services are being disrupted, communities face increased vulnerability, and recent US funding cuts threaten hard-won gains - particularly for key populations, including trans communities. At the same time, misinformation and disinformation around HIV and AIDS continue to undermine trust, access to care and human rights.

Now more than ever, we need sustained political leadership, international cooperation, and human-rights-centred, evidence-based action to end AIDS by 2030.

🌏The SRHM Journal invites submissions of research, commentaries, perspectives, reviews and other human-rights-centred work that strengthens accurate, credible knowledge on HIV and AIDS and challenges harmful narratives.

25/11/2025

🌏International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
25 November: UNiTE to End Digital Violence against Women and Girls

👉Violence against women and girls remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations. Increasingly, it’s happening online — where weak regulation, anonymity and fast-evolving tech-enabled abuse are silencing women, especially activists, journalists and those in public life.

🌍Today launches 16 Days of Activism (25 Nov–10 Dec). The 2025 UNiTE campaign calls on governments to end impunity, tech companies to make platforms safe, and donors to fund feminist responses and all of us to stand with survivors.

SRHM marks this day by spotlighting our themed issue on Digital Technology and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. As the editorial notes:

🔸 Digital tools can expand access to abortion, contraception and pleasure-positive SRHR information - but without strong privacy, equality and accountability safeguards, they risk amplifying discrimination and harm.

🔸 Digital justice is essential: protecting privacy, ensuring accountability for data and guaranteeing full transparency and rights-based design.

🔸 Responsibility must shift from individual users to companies and governments so that digital spaces uphold human rights.

As digital violence grows, so must our collective commitment to safe, rights-affirming online environments - for all women and girls.

🔗 Explore the SRHM themed issue: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/zrhm21/31/4?nav=tocList

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RHM becomes SRHM

In February 2019, Reproductive Health Matters (RHM) changes its name to Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM). Sexual health and rights have always been a part of the discourse of RHM, and we wish to fully represent the breadth and extensiveness of sexual health and rights, and reproductive health and rights, in our name.

Our name represents our vision: a world in which sexual and reproductive health and rights are recognized as fundamental human rights and matters of social justice; and in which the sexual and reproductive health needs and rights of people are fully respected, protected and fulfilled, regardless of age, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, geographical residence, race, colour, language, social status or other social, political or personal attributes.

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RHM becomes SRHM