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

23/03/2026

👉 The “architecture of distancing” sheds light on how abortion can remain legally recognised yet practically out of reach.

🌍 Using Italy as a key example, this commentary shows how procedural barriers, widespread conscientious objection, and the integration of anti-abortion actors into public services create distance between rights and access.

✊ A powerful lens for understanding how reproductive governance can restrict without outright prohibiting, and why the realisation of rights must go beyond legal recognition.

🔗Read 'The “architecture of distancing”: a mode of abortion governance illustrated by the Italian case' by Debra Lanfranconi: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2026.2638043

20/03/2026

🎧 New SRHM Podcast episode

👉 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tfMnTNVR8U1FmnRvCx31y
👉 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/intersecting-crises-and-cross-sector-solutions/id1558099164?i=1000756312609

🌎 This episode explores the intersections between environmental justice and s*xual and reproductive health and rights ( ), in the context of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women

Opening and closing remarks by Thoại D. Ngô (Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health), moderated by Eszter Kismődi (S*xual and Reproductive Health Matters).

Featuring Aleya Khalifa (Columbia University), Allan Achesa Maleche (KELIN), Neha Mankani (International Confederation of Midwives), Sai Jyothirmai Racherla (ARROW), and Marta Schaaf (Amnesty International).

🌍 The discussion examines how climate change, extractivism, and inequality shape SRHR outcomes, and highlights rights-based, evidence-driven pathways towards justice and sustainability.

19/03/2026

📣S*xual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) – the peer-reviewed open access journal of SRHM – is excited to launch its new submission-to-publication platform, hosted in partnership with Janeway.

🔗 srhmjournal.org

👉The journal will reopen to new submissions very soon, and all new submissions will be made via the new platform. Please see our updated Information for Authors before starting your submission: https://srhm.infinity.janeway.systems/site/information-for-authors/

✊ SRHM will continue to publish original and contemporary articles, particularly from a rights, justice, gender equality and feminist perspective, that can help to inform the development of policies, laws and services to fulfil the rights and meet the s*xual and reproductive health needs of people of all ages, gender, origins, s*xual orientations and other personal characteristics and identities.

🌏If you would like to submit a revised manuscript to SRHM that was previously submitted via Taylor & Francis’ Editorial Manager or Submission Portal platforms, please proceed via those sites. The Editorial Team will continue to handle already-in-progress manuscripts there for the time being.

📖 All previously published SRHM articles and issues (currently available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/zrhm21) will be transferred to the new platform in due course, and once the transfer is complete all new journal content will be published exclusively there. All SRHM articles will continue to be published under an open access licence, meaning that they will be freely available online immediately following publication.

👉 If you are currently registered on the SRHM Editorial Manager or Submission Portal databases, please take a few moments to create an account on the new journal platform so that you can join us on this exciting new chapter for SRHM. Registration is quick and easy! If you have any queries about a new or in-progress submission, or anything else related to this message, please contact the Editorial Team at editorial@srhm.org.

The Editorial Team, led by Editor-in-Chief Sapna Desai, looks forward to welcoming you to the new journal platform!

16/03/2026

🌍 Webinar | Intersecting Crises and Cross-sector Solutions: Environmental Justice and SRHR

How do environmental injustice, economic inequality, and extractive industries shape s*xual and reproductive health and rights?

Join S*xual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) and the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University for a timely discussion on the links between environmental justice and SRHR, held alongside the 70th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70).

🗓 18 March 2026
⏰ 15:00–16:30 SAST
💻 Online

This webinar will explore how climate change, land dispossession, and unequal resource governance affect women’s and girls’ health, rights, and access to justice. Speakers will also discuss accountability gaps and pathways toward evidence- and rights-based responses that advance equality, sustainability, and community wellbeing.

Moderator:
• Eszter Kismődi, Chief Executive, S*xual and Reproductive Health Matters

Speakers:
• Aleya Khalifa, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
• Allan Achesa Maleche, Executive Director, KELIN
• Neha Mankani, International Confederation of Midwives
• Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, ARROW
• Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International

🎟 Register and join the conversation on advancing justice across sectors:
https://events.humanitix.com/environmental-justice-and-srhr

13/03/2026

🌍 Who produces knowledge on gender and SRHR in Africa, and whose voices are missing?

👉 In the latest SRHM Podcast, Sapna Desai speaks with Woldekidan Amde and Kéfilath Bello about their study on authorship, funding and power in research on gender approaches to s*xual and reproductive health across Africa.

🌍 Their findings reveal persistent imbalances in global health knowledge production, with most lead authors and funders based outside the continent. The conversation explores why this matters for research quality, credibility and policy impact, and what needs to change to support locally led research and more equitable collaboration.

🎧 Listen to the episode and join the conversation on decolonising global health knowledge.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3uupdGPriodEzmhJYWeUYh
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/power-and-authorship-in-gender-and-s*xual/id1558099164?i=1000755032916
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6GQS9kK99M&list=PL6Ho-hz9YhqNfB2z_4Qc3MBBkNFyfKNE_&index=70

📖 Read the full paper, 'Imbalances in authorship, geographic and institutional contexts, and funding sources in research on gender approaches to s*xual and reproductive health in Africa: a scoping review' by Woldekidan Amde, Kéfilath Bello, Tanya Jacobs, TK Sundari Ravindran & Asha S. George
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2026.2616137

08/03/2026

💙 International Women’s Day 2026 arrives at a moment when the global politics shaping rights, health, and justice are shifting rapidly.

🌏 Long-standing armed conflicts and humanitarian crises continue to devastate communities, now intersecting with major changes in development funding and global power structures that are reshaping how responses are financed and governed. At the same time, environmental and economic injustices are placing growing pressures on communities and livelihoods.

🌍 These are not separate challenges. Conflict, displacement, extractive economies, climate change, and ideological attacks on gender equality intersect in ways that directly shape people’s ability to exercise bodily autonomy and access health, dignity, and justice.

💙 On this International Women’s Day, S*xual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) calls attention to these interconnected realities and to the collective accountability required to address them.

Evidence must inform action.

Read more: https://www.srhm.org/news/srhm-on-international-womens-day/

06/03/2026

📅 Wednesday 18 March 2026
🕘 09:00 EST | 14:00 CET | 18:30 IST

✊ In the context of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, S*xual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health’s Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health invite you to a webinar on environmental justice and s*xual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

🌏 The discussion will explore how extractivism, climate change, land dispossession and unequal resource governance intersect with economic inequality to shape SRHR, particularly for women and girls. Speakers will examine accountability gaps and structural barriers to justice, while highlighting evidence- and rights-based responses that advance equality, sustainability and community wellbeing.

Speakers:
• Aleya Khalifa, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
• Allan Achesa Maleche, Kenya Legal & Ethical Issues Network on HIV & AIDS (KELIN)
• Neha Mankani, International Confederation of Midwives (ICM)
• Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW)
• Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International

Moderator: Eszter Kismődi, Chief Executive, S*xual and Reproductive Health Matters
Opening and closing remarks: Thoại D. Ngô, Harriet and Robert H. Heilbrunn Professor and Chair, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

🔗 Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/environmental-justice-and-srhr

Image credit: A woman gold mining in Kakamega County, Kenya. Photo © Girls to Women, Kenya. ✨

04/03/2026

“To me, it was overwhelming.”

🌎 In a mixed methods study from New York City, Khadija R Jones, Nandini Choudhury, Mary Archana Fernandez, George Hagopian, Rachel Schwartz, Adiba Chowdhury, Sushmita Diyali, Keeley McNamara, Hugo Teo, Payal Ram, Andrea Archer, Amanda Misiti, Teresa Janevic and Sheela Maru apply the Person-Centered Care Framework for Reproductive Health Equity to examine maternal healthcare in a marginalised community.

👉The study reveals stark inequities.

Most of the new mothers were women of colour with public insurance. Many lacked postpartum care and more than half experienced poor prenatal care. Inadequate care was more common among younger women, Black women, Arabic-speaking women and women who smoked during pregnancy.

Barriers included limited health awareness, financial hardship, social isolation, immigration status and difficulties with telehealth. Quality of care concerns centred on poor communication and lack of continuity.

👉 The findings show how structural inequities shape maternal health experiences and call for community-led, equity-focused policy responses.

🔗 Read the full study: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2026.2632452

03/03/2026

Who receives abortions at 6 or 16 weeks’ gestation?

🌎 In a research article from Ohio, Pragi Patel, Payal Chakraborty, Bucky Foster, Jacob Kepes, Danielle Bessett, Alison H. Norris and Mikaela H. Smith analysed 4,926 patient charts from three facilities between 2014 and 2018 to understand who is most affected by gestation based abortion bans introduced after Dobbs v. Jackson.

👉 They found clear inequities. Patients who were White, older, college educated, married, not parents and living in state had higher odds of accessing abortion before 6 weeks. Those travelling from out of state had significantly lower odds of early abortion and higher odds of abortion at 16 weeks or later. Black patients, younger patients and those with less education were less likely to access care earlier in pregnancy.

✊ Gestation based bans do not affect everyone equally. They deepen existing inequalities and make timely care hardest for those already experiencing systemic discrimination.

🔗 Read the full research article: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2026.2637322

24/02/2026

Transactional s*x in contexts of forced displacement is too often framed through narrow, moralised lenses.

In the latest SRHM Podcast, Eszter Kismődi speaks with Dr Shirin Heidari and Professor Monica A. Onyango about their multi-country study, Survival Strategies and Health Repercussions in Forced Displacement.

Drawing on research from Jordan, Lebanon, Türkiye, Greece and Switzerland, they unpack how transactional s*x emerges within conditions of legal precarity, housing insecurity, restrictive asylum regimes and shrinking humanitarian space.

👉The episode challenges simplistic binaries of “choice” versus “force” and highlights urgent s*xual and reproductive health consequences.

🎧 Listen now: Transactional S*x and Forced Displacement (36 minutes)
https://www.srhm.org/news/survival-strategies-and-health-repercussions-in-forced-displacement-transactional-s*x-in-focus/

20/02/2026

📢 New Letter to the Editor

The African Coalition for Research and Communication on Abortion: shifting power, building capacity, defending rights

Unsafe abortion remains a preventable cause of maternal mortality across Africa, yet research leadership and funding too often sit outside the continent.

This Letter introduces the African Coalition for Research and Communication on Abortion (ACORCA–COARCA), a bilingual, Africa-led coalition working to shift agenda-setting power, strengthen research capacity, and defend reproductive rights through rigorous, policy-relevant evidence. Launched at the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) 2025, the Coalition is building a sustainable and collaborative abortion research ecosystem rooted in equity and African leadership.

🎙️ In a recent SRHM Podcast episode, Eszter Kismődi spoke with Naa Dodoo, Ramatou Ouedraogo and Béniel Agossou about ACORCA’s vision for an Africa where every woman and girl can access safe, high-quality abortion services without stigma or fear.

🔗 Listen here: https://www.srhm.org/news/acorca-building-an-african-led-movement-for-safe-abortion/

🔗 Read the full Letter: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2026.2622222

13/02/2026

💌 Send us your love letters

❤️ This Valentine’s Day and World Condom Day, we are celebrating pleasure, protection and liberation.

🎧 LISTEN HERE
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0RQPdPLFbpnuUdwBORQJmL
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s*xual-and-reproductive-health-matters-podcast/id1558099164
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovKIAWtTLL4

💙 In our latest podcast episode, we spotlight the editorial of SRHM’s Pleasure Collection, written by Anne Philpott and Paromita Vohra and developed in collaboration with The Pleasure Project and Agents of Ishq. The editorial is read by Anne and Elena Ascione with an introduction by SRHM's Chief Executive, Eszter Kismodi.

This is a call for love letters.

❤️ “We look forward to getting to know you better… your multifaceted desires, your pleasures, what turns you on and makes you tick.”
“Send in your love letters. Because Pleasure is Progress. Pleasure Matters.”

💙 The editorial invites us to be more specific, more granular, more true to life. To start with lived experience. To flip what we think counts as credible or scientific. To celebrate those who feel pleasure, who eroticise safer s*x, who live the impact of policy in their bodies.

👉Pleasure and protection are not opposites. Evidence shows that when s*x feels good, condom use increases.

💌 Listen wherever you find your podcasts. Then write to us. Send your love letters.

Send your papers, blogs, poetry, podcast ideas, art as we celebrate s*xual pleasure as a key aspect of s*xual and reproductive health and rights for all.

Read the editorial and explore the Pleasure Collection at srhm.org.

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RHM becomes SRHM

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

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