#WomensHealthMatters
May 28 is the International Day of Action for Women’s Health,1 for over 30 years, women*, girls, advocates and allies have continued to take action, stand up and speak out for sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR). May 28 is a key day for us, as activists, to call for the promotion, protection, prioritisation and advancement of sexual and reproductive health rights on local, national and international scales.
2019 marks the 25th year of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), wherein 179 governments adopted a groundbreaking Programme of Action (PoA) that recognised reproductive health and rights, as well as women’s empowerment and gender equality. Since the PoA adoption in Cairo in 1994, important progress has been achieved for and by women such as the decline in maternal mortality, child mortality, and unintended pregnancy rates; increased access to education, family planning and skilled attendance at birth; increased global contraceptive prevalence rates; and reduction of adolescent birth rates, among others.2 However, full realisation of all women’s SRHR remains far from being addressed, as women’s health has often been reduced to a limited understanding of maternal health, overlooking the actual needs of all women in their diversities. As a result, significant challenges persist, in terms of recognising sexual rights in addition to reproductive rights, ensuring universal access to contraceptives and safe and legal abortion, as well as comprehensive sexuality education for young people, among other critical SRHR issues.
This #May28, we invite and encourage our members, partners, and allies worldwide to Mobilise, Speak Out, and Take Action – let’s stand together, be part of the movement and join global initiatives to demand, advance, and defend sexual and reproductive health and rights for all! Remind our governments that Women’s Health Matters!
Visit www.may28.org to download campaign materials.
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1. May 28th is a Day of Action recognised internationally wherein any organisation or individual can mobilise their communities around their own priority topic best suiting the local context. Any organisation working to advance women’s health rights is welcome to launch May 28th activities, in the aim of ensuring women’s health and well-being worldwide, particularly in terms of their SRHR.
2. Commission on Population Development, “Review and appraisal of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and its contribution to the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, Commission on Population Development, April 1-5, 2019, United Nations, New York
*While we use the term ‘woman/women’ we do so with a critical reflexivity that recognises the nuances and right to people’s unique sexual and gender identities and expressions. We also recognise that ‘women’ are not a monolithic group and that they have diverse identities that vary due to their social location and the socio-economic, political, and multicultural contexts in which their lives are embedded. |
