By Daniel Otunge
Poor sexual and reproductive health is a persistent and significant problem in low and middle-income countries. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says illnesses and deaths from poor reproductive health account for one-fifth of the global burden of disease.
In Africa, only 20% of married women use modern contraception. The continent has the highest prevalence of deaths due to SRHR-related challenges. Overall, maternal mortality rates are highest in the region. Poor reproductive health is manifested in the high HIV/ AIDS, childbirth, and abortion deaths and illnesses.
These grim statistics happen against the solid legal framework that should expectedly lead to more positive SRHR outcomes globally. The United Nations International Conference on Population and Development-Cairo (ICPD) of 1994 embraced certain human rights already recognized in international and national laws and policies, including SRHR. These legal instruments protect the fundamental rights of individuals and couples to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing, and timing of their children, the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. It also includes the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction without undue influence.
These rights are guaranteed in various treaty documents and other instruments that delineate government obligations to protect and promote the rights. At the global level, the instruments include the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination; the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; Convention on the Rights of the Child; and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
At the regional level, there are the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa or the “Maputo protocol (2003). Others include the Millennium Development Goals, the Abuja Declaration on HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB), other related Infectious diseases, and the Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA).
At the municipal level, using Kenya as an example, Chapter Four of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 provides and protects fundamental human rights and freedoms, including SRHR. Article 25 on inalienable rights includes freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment under sub-article (a). Article 28 on human dignity states that every person has inherent dignity and the right to have that dignity respected and protected by both public and private actors. Inhuman cultural practices like FGM/C grossly violate these constitutional rights and freedoms.
Further, Article 43(1)(a) guarantees the rights to the highest attainable standard of health, including reproductive health. In addition, Kenya has several statutes that promote and protect SRHR. These include the Sexual Offences Act, the Children’s Act, and the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act 2011, among others.
There are also policies and strategies on SRHR, including the National Reproductive Health Policy, the National Reproductive Health Strategy, the Adolescent Reproductive Health and Development Policy, the National Condom Policy and Strategy, the Contraceptive Policy and Strategy, the School Health Policy, the Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Policy; the HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan; the National Reproductive Health and HIV and AIDS integration Strategy; the National Reproductive Health Policy Enhancing Reproductive Health Status for all Kenyans, among others.
These legal instruments obligate the state to respect, protect, and fulfill the SRHR of all Kenyans by ensuring that essential services are available, accessible, affordable, and of good quality. As the fourth estate whose responsibilities include informing and educating the public on pertinent issues, the media practitioners should understand these issues and legal instruments to report effectively on SRHR by holding state and non-state actors accountable. Thus, sustainable capacity building by entities dealing with SRHR advocacy would expose the journalists to the legal framework governing SRHR in East and Southern Africa.
The media’s role in advancing SRHR is fundamental to respecting and fulfilling those human rights. This media training would help unpack subject matters within SRHR, giving journalists the much-needed direction on writing informative and educative SRHR stories while leveraging existing laws and policies that touch on those rights. In addition, through such training, the media can produce articles through a gender and intersectional lens. The press would also have the knowledge and tools to amplify perspectives on key SRHR themes such as gender and sexual rights, teenage pregnancies, FGM, cervical cancers and HIV/C, and Family Planning, among others.
The media would also effectively contribute to the collective efforts of holding governments accountable for their SRHR commitments. Uniquely, this project will enable the media to use solutions journalism and storytelling approaches to address critical SRHR issues, such as access to safe and legal abortion and the urgency of comprehensive sexuality education. Indeed, the importance of media reporting in transforming social norms and attitudes and shifting narratives on SRHR needs no gainsaying.
To report professionally and with impact, journalists need adequate knowledge of SRHR to help put SRHR issues into perspective and help change harmful and retrogressive cultural norms. It is within a culture that people face violations and discrimination of their Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. Even so, cultures change over time, and journalists can play a massive role in catalyzing that change.
A recent UNICEF Media scan pointed to challenges, gaps, and opportunities in building a knowledgeable cohort of journalists. For example, a lack of in-depth coverage indicates the need to invest in unpacking the SRHR for the media to create a healthier society. In summary, the centrality of both traditional media and emerging new media, including social media, in positioning the discourse on SRHR and access to services related to sexual and gender-based violence and HIV is now more critical than ever.
The writer is a legal and communication expert.
