FOCUS ON SEXUAL & REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH (SRH)

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of women has garnered much interest in recent years. In many parts of our region, this has received scant attention and in fact, has been conveniently “swept under the carpet” to avoid difficult and sometimes embarrassing discussions pertaining to gender equality, rape, STI, abortion and gender based violence.

The Asia Oceania region is also home to more than half the adolescents in the world and there is a growing realisation that failure to invest in this group of individuals will jeopardise the success of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Consequently, AOFOG resolved to take the “bull by the horns” and focus on SRH with an emphasis on Adolescent SRH (ASRH). The SRH Committee which had remained dormant for many years was revived in 2017 with the aim of raising awareness and “desensitising” these issues across our region as a precursor to remedial action.