Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters Podcast

• Sex, Satisfaction, and Switching: The Questions Contraceptive Research and Implementation Forgot to Ask

  On World Contraception Day, SRHM, in partnership with The Pleasure Project and WHO, hosted a powerful webinar launching a landmark systematic review: Sex, Satisfaction, and Switching: The Questions Contraceptive Research and Implementation Forgot to Ask.This review provides the first systematic evidence on the extent to which sex life concerns influence contraceptive discontinuation and switching.Key findings highlight that 1 in 20 contraceptive users discontinue while still in need due to the impact on their sex life. This rivals other commonly cited reasons such as cost and access, yet is rarely considered in counselling, research or policy. The review also shows just how little sexual acceptability has been studied in relation to contraceptive use – underscoring the urgent need to bring pleasure, intimacy and lived experience into sexual and reproductive health (SRH) research and practice.Speakers included: Welcome by Sapna Desai | Editor-in-Chief, Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM)Introductory poem by Theresa Mae Caragan | Youth Advisor, Plan International PilipinasDr Lianne Gonsalves | Scientist, Human Reproduction Special Programme (HRP), World Health Organization (WHO)Dr Faysal El Kak | President, World Association of Sexual Health and Director of the Women Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) Program Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, American University of Beirut Medical CenterDr Samukeliso Dube | Executive Director, FP2030Moderated by Anne Philpott | Founder, The Pleasure ProjectThe contributions from the research team, global advocates and practitioners, as well as youth voices and poetry reminded us that pleasure is not a luxury, but a right tied to dignity, safety and self-worth.Speakers called for urgent action to:Make pleasure a priority in the global SRHR agenda.Ask users directly about how methods affect their sex lives.Normalise positive framing of contraception as enabling safe and pleasurable sex.This research represents a crucial step toward humanising contraceptive delivery, challenging over-medicalised narratives, and designing SRHR services that reflect people’s realities.Read the full paper, 'The sex effect: the prevalence of sex life reasons for contraceptive discontinuation. A systematic review and meta-analysis' at srhmjournal.org.

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• A Landmark Win for Reproductive Rights: Kenya’s High Court Ruling on the National Reproductive Health Policy

  In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, SRHM Chief Executive Eszter Kismodi speaks with Allan Maleche, Executive Director of KELIN Kenya, and Jerop Limo, Executive Director of the Ambassadors for Youth and Adolescent Reproductive Health Programme (AYARHEP). Together, they discuss a groundbreaking case before the High Court of Kenya, which challenged the country’s National Reproductive Health Policy (2022–2032) for being discriminatory and unconstitutional. The conversation explores how this ruling — a partial but significant victory — advances reproductive rights, upholds the Maputo Protocol and Kenya’s Constitution, and reinforces the power of youth and civil society in shaping rights-based policy. Allan and Jerop reflect on the implications for access to SRHR services, bodily autonomy, and inclusion, and share what’s next for advocacy, policy reform, and accountability in Kenya.

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• The right to science in sexual and reproductive health and the legal status of the human embryo

  How should science shape laws and policies on reproductive health? What happens when ideology overrides evidence in decisions about IVF, abortion and reproductive autonomy? And why is the right to science a critical yet overlooked human right?In this thought-provoking episode of the SRHM Podcast, host Eszter Kismődi speaks with four authors of a groundbreaking SRHM paper: The right to science in sexual and reproductive health and the legal status of the human embryo. Guests Professor Silke Dyer, Professor Alison Edelman, Professor Joanna Erdman and Professor Asha George explore how scientific progress, human rights and law intersect in debates on the status of the human embryo—and the consequences for people seeking fertility and abortion care around the world.Together they discuss:Why personhood laws rooted in ideology threaten reproductive rights and public healthHow misinformation shapes policy and restricts evidence-based careThe right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress as a human rightThe importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration for sexual and reproductive justiceThis episode is essential listening for anyone working in global health, human rights, law, public policy, advocacy or SRHR research.👉 Read the full article, open-access, at srhmjournal.org👉 Join the conversation ahead of Human Rights Day on the future of the right to science in SRHR.

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• Surrogacy and bodily autonomy as a matter of sexual and reproductive justice

  On 8 October 2025, Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) co-hosted a global webinar titled “Surrogacy as a Matter of Sexual and Reproductive Justice” in partnership with the Just Futures Collaborative, Center for Reproductive Rights, Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA), and the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice.This event situated surrogacy within the wider framework of sexual and reproductive justice, human rights, and bodily autonomy.The webinar explored human-rights approaches to surrogacy, the effects of criminalization and prohibition, and evidence-informed regulatory and feminist perspectives. The discussion showed how surrogacy can be grounded in autonomy, dignity, equality, and protection from exploitation.Guided by an intersectional lens, the webinar examined how gender, sexuality, race, class, religion, migration, economic inequality, and labour rights shape surrogacy. Participants also considered evidence on how restrictive frameworks undermine rights and discuss strategies for coalition-building and advocacy across movements.SpeakersSarojini Nadimpally | Co-founder of Sama Resource Group for Women and HealthEng Chandy | Executive Director of Gender and Development for Cambodia (GADC)Verónica Esparza | Research Coordinator, Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (GIRE)Nerima Were | Legal Director at The Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA)Subha Wijesiriwardena | Co-director of Just Futures CollaborativeModerator:Eszter Kismodi | Chief Executive of Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters

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• Female genital mutilation in Africa: Politics of criminalisation

  On 9 September 2025, SRHM hosted a thought-provoking webinar to launch the open-access book Female Genital Mutilation in Africa: Politics of Criminalisation, edited by Satang Nabaneh, Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Dayton Human Rights Center, and affiliated faculty at the Center for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. Introduced by Eszter Kismödi, Chief Executive of SRHM, the event brought together contributing authors to reflect on the complex and evolving debates around FGM in Africa, particularly the role and limits of criminalization.Speakers:Satang Nabaneh (Moderator) - Beyond legislation: Examining the efficacy of criminalisation of female genital mutilation in AfricaAngela J Dawson - Research and female genital mutilation prevention: Evidence from AfricaSamuel Kimani - Medicalisation of female genital mutilation/cutting: Ethical dimensionsLaura Nyirinkindi - A case commentary on law and advocacy for women in Uganda v the Attorney General: Exploring the legal steps taken in abolishing the practice of female genital mutilation and challenges with implementing the decision

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