The Conversation: Fresh drive to close gaps on health issues facing women and girls
Alex Ezeh, Dornsife Professor of Global Health at Drexel University

“…The aim of the [ICPD25] summit is to get governments to commit to speeding up the progress [on sexual and reproductive health and rights]. This will include attempting to secure pledges worth $264 billion. … But raising the money will be only one half of meeting the challenge. The other will be agreeing on a plan to deploy the money effectively to achieve meaningful outcomes. In my view this will require three key ingredients: governments will have to pledge domestic funding for these programs; local actors will have to play an integral part in delivering on the advocacy, policy, and research; and finally, the interventions will have to be driven through real partnerships. … To achieve these noble goals, we must work together; we must strengthen local capacities that are critical to making a real difference on the ground; and we must engage local leadership to ensure there are domestic investments and political commitment to this agenda. Raising $264 billion over the next 12 years is a small price to achieve such a transformative change in the lives of women and girls” (11/12).

IPS: When is Universal Health Coverage Good for Attaining Universal Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights?
Julitta Onabanjo, regional director of the United Nations Population Fund, East and Southern Africa

“…In the past 25 years, noteworthy progress has been made towards the realization of universal sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in most parts of the world, including in East and Southern Africa. … Despite good progress, the promise of the ICPD remains to be fulfilled for millions of people in the East and Southern Africa region. One in five women do not have their family planning needs met. … In this context, the ICPD25 Nairobi Summit provides a great opportunity to recommit ourselves to redoubling our efforts to accelerate progress towards universal SRHR, and women’s empowerment and gender equality — the unfinished agendas of the ICPD. … Achieving this target would require us to take advantage of the momentum of Universal Health Coverage. SRHR and UHC will need to become more entwined. Simply put — there can be no UHC without universal SRHR and vice versa. Together, let’s march for the universal goal of UHC and SRHR for all, with no exceptions!…” (11/12).