18^th International Dialogue

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on the sexual and reproductive rights of millions of people, including on their access to sexual and reproductive health services. Ways to safeguard both access and rights during and after the current pandemic were at the heart of the International Dialogue on Population and Sustainable Development in 2020.

On 28/29 October 2020, the 18^th International Dialogue on Population and Sustainable Development brought together around 100 selected experts from 30 countries to discuss the challenges posed on people´s sexual and reproductive health and rights by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the current global health crisis, delegates met online for a virtual conference instead of travelling in person to Berlin, the location of the previous 17 International Dialogues. Like the earlier Dialogues, it was hosted by Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, International Planned Parenthood Federation and KfW Entwicklungsbank, in cooperation with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Bayer AG.

47 million women may lose access to modern contraceptives

Due to the corona crisis in many countries’ health systems are overburdened, supply chains are interrupted, and many health facilities are closed. The options for women and girls seeking sexual and reproductive health services have become alarmingly limited. Approximately 47 million women are at risk of losing access to modern contraceptives due to the pandemic. At the same time, the crisis has forced many vulnerable women and girls into forced confinement with perpetrators of gender-based violence – often family members -, and the incidence of gender-based violence has increased accordingly. In addition, the loss of employment and income has pushed many families into financial hardship, resulting in increases in early and forced marriages, female genital mutilation as well as sexual exploitation and abuse.

We need to think beyond the health sector

To truly realise sexual and reproductive health and rights for all, ‘we need to think beyond the health sector’ said Birgit Pickel, Head of BMZ’s new Directorate Global Health, Pandemic Preparedness and One Health. Frank Strelow, Vice President Sustainability of Bayer AG supported this position, stating that ‘access to sexual and reproductive health and rights does not only mean access to contraception and reproductive health services. It also means access to education, safe spaces, food and healthy nutrition.’

COVID-19 could be a turning point

COVID-19 has presented enormous challenges, but it has also created new opportunities: Using innovative approaches such as telemedicine and selfcare, for example some providers have been able to maintain access to their sexual and reproductive health services. In doing so, they have made their health systems more resilient and sustainable. Jan Kreutzberg, Executive Director of Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung, noted that ‘if we learn from this crisis, exchange ideas, embrace new ways of working and act together, COVID-19 can be a turning point for the realisation of sexual and reproductive health and rights for all’. He appealed to all delegates and the organisations they represent to use the current window of opportunity ‘to act fast and united’ in order to ‘promote the full realisation of sexual and reproductive health and rights’.