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Sexual health was generally understood to be an integral part of reproductive health, and was dealt with as such in health programmes. However, the emergence of the pandemic of HIV (human immunodeciency virus) infection, mounting rates of sexually transmitted infections, and growing recognition of the public health importance of concerns, such as gender-related violence and sexual dysfunction have highlighted the need to focus more explicitly on issues related to sexuality and their implications for health and well-being. In response to this, the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research has started to look at sexual health as a different area of work in its own right.
The goal of this new, cross-cutting activity is to provide optimal sexual health and an affirmative view of sexuality for women, men and young people. The specific objectives are:
• To build the evidence base for high quality, non-discriminatory, acceptable and sustainable sexual health education and service programmes; and
• To increase knowledge and understanding of the social and cultural factors related to harmful sexual practices in order to develop strategies to abolish these practices.
Reasons for Poor Sexual Health
Unintended Pregnancies:- Enabling women to choose the number and timing of their births through access to contraception is a fundamental component of reproductive health services. Despite the nearly universal commitment of the world's countries to this issue, nearly 30% of the 205 million pregnancies that occur each year are unintended.
Reproductive Age:- As the number of women in the reproductive ages (15-49) has reached an all time high, families planning services and contraceptive supplies have not kept pace. While the number of couples in low-income countries using family planning services has increased dramatically in the last decade, more than 120 million women who wish to space or delay their next birth still do not have access to modern methods of contraception.
Abortions:- Each year, some 30 million women experience miscarriage and an additional 43 million end their pregnancies through elective abortions. Nearly half of these abortions occur in insecure and clandestine conditions where abortion is illegal or highly restricted.
The Problem/Complicacies
The failure to provide women with the means to prevent unintended pregnancies creates an extraordinary and avoidable public health threat that results in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of women. From 1995-2000, nearly 700,000 women died from causes related to unintended pregnancies.
While more than one-third died from problems associated with pregnancy, labor and delivery, the majority — more than 400,000 — died as a result of complications resulting from unsafe abortions. Many hundreds of thousands more survived after hospitalization for complications of unsafe abortion.
Such life-threatening and preventable conditions also consume a vast proportion of health resources in poor countries. Some African hospitals report that one-third of gynecological expenditures are used to treat complications of unsafe abortion. Universal access to safe and effective contraception not only saves lives but also conserves health resources for use in providing improved obstetrical care.
Core aspects of reproductive and sexual health services
The five core aspects of reproductive and sexual health are: improving antenatal, perinatal, postpartum and newborn care; providing high-quality services for family planning, including infertility services; eliminating unsafe abortion; combating sexually transmitted infections including HIV, reproductive tract infections, cervical cancer and other gynecological concerns; and promoting sexual health. Because of the close links between the different aspects of reproductive and sexual health, interventions in one area are likely to have a positive impact on the others. It is critical for countries to strengthen existing services and use them as entry points for new interventions, looking for maximum synergy.... In most countries, the major entry point will be antenatal, childbirth and postpartum services, which form the backbone of primary health care.