Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters

Home
United Kingdom
London
Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters

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

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

📣S*xual 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/

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 s*xual 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 S*xual 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

17/11/2025

🌍 World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day – 17 Nov 2025
In the fight to eliminate Cervical Cancer, .

Cervical cancer is preventable yet still causes ~2,000 deaths annually among Nepali women. Could self-sampling be part of the solution?

📄 Research Article: Feasibility of HPV self-sampling pathway in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal using a human-centred design approach by Sw****ka Shrestha, Saki Thapa, Paul Sims, Andreea Ardelean, Anamika Basu, Maxine Caws, Suman Chandra Gurung, and Gillian Holdsworth

Researchers explored the acceptability and feasibility of a self-sampling pathway for HPV testing using co-design and in-depth interviews.

Findings showed:
👉Knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer was low
👉56.7% of women were willing to self-sample
👉Clear instructions, trust in online services, and confidence in self-sampling are essential
👉The proposed urban user journey was considered feasible

💡 Takeaway: Well-designed, patient-centred self-sampling pathways can expand screening access and empower women — a crucial step toward eliminating cervical cancer.

🔗 Read the full paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2021.2005283

14/11/2025

🌍 World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day – 17 Nov 2025

“I’m neither here, which would be bad, nor there, which would be good.” This is how women in Jujuy, Argentina describe their experience of receiving an HPV+ test result.

📄 Study: “I’m neither here, which would be bad, nor there, which would be good”: the information needs of HPV+ women by Lucila Szwarc, Victoria Sánchez Antelo, Melisa Paolino & Silvina Arrossi

Interviews with 38 HPV+ women revealed critical gaps in information and emotional support. Women valued kindness and clarity from health professionals but faced challenges such as shame, overwhelming technical language, and misconceptions about s*xual transmission. Key needs included:

👉Understanding the meaning of an HPV+ result and cervical cancer risk

👉Continuity and timing of care

👉Detailed explanations of procedures (colposcopy, biopsy, treatment, fertility effects)

👉Deconstructing myths linking HPV to infidelity

💡 Takeaway: Strengthening counselling, providing staged information, and active listening are vital to ensure women understand their results and can navigate care confidently.

🔗 Read the full paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2021.1991101

13/11/2025

🌍As we lead-up to World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day on 17 Nov 2025,
we will be highlighting relevant papers and evidence from the SRHM Journal. Because .

Recent research from Southern Ethiopia highlights the barriers women and health professionals face in cervical cancer screening: low awareness, stigma, misconceptions, competing priorities, and limited health system capacity.

📄 Study: Women’s and health professionals’ perceptions, beliefs and barriers to cervical cancer screening uptake in Southern Ethiopia by Samuel Yohannes Ayanto, Tefera Belachew Lema & Muluemebet Abera Wordofa

The findings show that improving awareness, addressing misconceptions, and strengthening health systems are crucial to accelerate progress toward the 90-70-90 targets by 2030.

💡 This moment matters. Every life counts. Act now.

🔗 Read the full paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2023.2258477

10/11/2025

On 6 November 2025, a dynamic and thought-provoking session by The Pleasure Project at took place – “Centering Pleasure: Contraception, S*xual Well-being, and the Missing Conversation in Family Planning.”

👉The session invited participants to reimagine the conversation around contraception and s*xual health through the lens of pleasure, a dimension too often neglected in global SRHR discourse.

📖The session was grounded in findings from the systematic review and meta-analysis by The Pleaure Project and WHO, published in the SRHM Journal, “The S*x Effect: The Prevalence of S*x Life Reasons for Contraceptive Discontinuation.” This important research examined how s*xual satisfaction and the impact of contraception on one’s s*x life influence contraceptive choices and continuation rates.

🔗 Read the systematic review here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2025.2552589

Read more about the session on the SRHM Blog: https://www.srhm.org/news/centering-pleasure-contraception-s*xual-well-being-and-the-missing-conversation-in-family-planning/

10/11/2025

🌍 Beyond Reproductive Rights: Towards an Africentric Reproductive Justice Framework

👉This new paper explores how African courts are shaping s*xual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and calls for a shift from the traditional "choice"-based rights approach to an Africentric Reproductive Justice (ARJ) framework.

🌍 Rooted in decoloniality and Africentrism, the ARJ framework connects reproductive rights to broader social justice issues, addressing intersectionality, race, class, gender, and socioeconomic inequalities. It highlights the role of African judicial institutions, civil society, and communities in advancing reproductive justice grounded in local realities.

⚖️ The findings show that African courts are increasingly interpreting SRHR in culturally relevant and justice-oriented ways, signalling progress towards a more equitable, context-specific approach.

📘 Beyond reproductive rights: implementing the Africentric reproductive justice framework in s*xual and reproductive health and rights litigations in Africa: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2025.2570579
by Moses Mulumba, Jessica Oga & Ni**od Muhumuza
Afya na Haki, Kampala, Uganda

Address

London

Telephone

+442039735926

Website

http://www.srhm.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Featured

Help Mind Body

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic in London?

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.

06/01/2026

05/01/2026

12/12/2025

12/12/2025

05/12/2025

01/12/2025

25/11/2025

17/11/2025

14/11/2025

13/11/2025

10/11/2025

10/11/2025

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

RHM becomes SRHM