• How to take action? (What do different
duty-bearers need to do to address each
factor?)12
• Prevention and management of postpartum haemorrhage;
• Caesarean sections; and
NHRIs can assist governments in conducting rights-based analyses of sexual and
reproductive health problems and in identifying the institutional and capacity gaps that
need to be addressed.
In countries experiencing serious sexual and
reproductive health challenges – such as for
instance high levels of maternal mortality
and high prevalence of new HIV infections –,
governments, as the main duty-bearers, will
typically be confronted by gaps in their ability to ensure that sexual and reproductive
health services are available, accessible, and
acceptable and of good quality. According to
WHO, the following are essential interventions to improve maternal health13 (and to
the realization of reproductive rights):
• Appropriate postpartum care.
The role of NHRIs is to make sure, through
involvement in the policy making process or
by reviewing the policy, that all these elements are part of the national public health
strategy.
From a rights-holders perspective, NHRIs
can ensure that health strategies and plans
and, more broadly, national development
strategies also address the legal barriers as
well as the institutional and capacity gaps
that prevent marginalized and vulnerable
groups from accessing sexual and reproductive health services, from claiming their
rights and from participating actively in the
formulation of the said strategies and plans.
• Family planning;
• Prevention and management of sexual
transmitted infections, including HIV;
• Management of unintended pregnancies, including access to safe abortion
services, wherever legal, and post-abortion care;
• Detection of domestic violence;
• Management of pre-labour rupture of
membranes and preterm labour;
• Induction of labour for prolonged
pregnancies;
12 A/HRC/21/22, para 46
13 A/HRC/21/22, para 26
86
To ensure effective implementation in
furthering universal access to sexual and
reproductive health, the national public
health strategy has to be accompanied by
deliberate steps in terms of financing, population coverage and service expansion.
Ensuring a HRBA continuum in the interface
between policy and budget formulation is
another important step in the planning process for which the contribution of NHRIs is
fundamental.
As part of a multi-sectoral response, the
government has to match up the identified
institutional and capacity gaps with relevant budgetary allocations across a range
of ministries, departments and institutions.
“For example, addressing adolescent pregnancy
must be done in conjunction with the Ministry
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents