Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters

Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights globally. www.srhm.org

🎬 How does contemporary Spanish cinema portray unplanned pregnancy?A new study in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters...
09/09/2026

🎬 How does contemporary Spanish cinema portray unplanned pregnancy?

A new study in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters examines 14 Spanish films released between 2014 and 2024, asking what stories cinema tells about unplanned pregnancy, motherhood and abortion.

The findings reveal a striking pattern:

🔹 Abortion is largely absent. Legal abortion is explicitly represented in only two of the 14 films analysed.

🔹 Motherhood dominates the narrative. Most films portray women ultimately accepting motherhood, or depict unsuccessful attempts to end a pregnancy.

🔹 Choice is shaped by inequality. Socio-economic circumstances strongly influence how characters experience and respond to unplanned pregnancy.

🔹 Representation remains limited. Characters are notably homogeneous in terms of class, race and other structural factors, narrowing the range of reproductive experiences shown on screen.

The authors argue that more diverse and realistic representations are needed to challenge conventional narratives and broaden cultural understandings of reproductive rights, agency and reproductive justice.

📖 Read Representation of unplanned pregnancy in contemporary Spanish cinema: from voluntary abortion to unwanted motherhood by Mariona Visa Barbosa, Margarida Carnicé and Joana Soto Merola.
🔗 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2026.2713898

🌍 Rethinking abortion law reform in Malawi: a multi-method studyWhy has Malawi’s proposed abortion law reform remained s...
07/09/2026

🌍 Rethinking abortion law reform in Malawi: a multi-method study

Why has Malawi’s proposed abortion law reform remained stalled for more than a decade?

👉 A new article in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters examines the policy process behind abortion law reform in Malawi, drawing on document analysis and interviews with 14 people involved in the reform process.

The study identifies several pathways that could help advance reform, including:

🔹 stronger coordination between advocacy organisations
🔹 continued use of local evidence and lived experiences to demonstrate the harms of unsafe abortion
🔹 meaningful engagement with communities and trusted local champions
🔹 strategic timing around political cycles and funding constraints
🔹 strategic litigation to clarify the scope of existing law
🔹 sustained investment in advocacy, including rural outreach

The authors also highlight the importance of how abortion is framed and discussed, and draw lessons from abortion law reform experiences across sub-Saharan Africa.

🔗 Read the open access article by Carmen Hall, Judith Daire, Delia Hendrie and Genesis Chorwe-Sungani:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2026.2702233

🌍 Every Body, everywhere.September is World Sexual Health Month, with World Sexual Health Day on 4 September. This year’...
03/09/2026

🌍 Every Body, everywhere.

September is World Sexual Health Month, with World Sexual Health Day on 4 September. This year’s theme, Every Body, affirms that sexual health, rights, justice and pleasure belong to every person, in every body, without exception.

👉 This week, SRHM is pleased to be represented at the World Sexual Health Assembly in Stellenbosch, bringing together organisations and advocates working towards shared priorities for sexual health, rights and justice. We are also proud to reaffirm our commitment to the Porto Proclamation on Sexual Health, Rights and Justice.

📚 Explore our Special Collection on Sexual Pleasure, created in partnership with The Pleasure Porject and Agents of Ishq.

Pleasure is central to sexual health, yet too often overlooked. Our collection brings together research exploring pleasure, sexuality, health and rights across diverse contexts.
🔗 https://www.srhm.org/sexual-pleasure/

🎙️ Join the World Sexual Health Day panel | 4 September

Hosted by the World Association for Sexual Health and moderated by Eszter Kismödi (SRHM, WAS), the live-streamed panel will explore sexual health, rights, justice and pleasure, with panellists including Julia Ehrt, Judy Amina, Crystal Hendricks, Kristen Mark, Vic McKinney and Zahra Stardust.

The panel will open with Faysal El Kak and Constance Matlholwa, with poetry by Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad, followed by an exhibition by artist Robert Hamblin.
🔗 Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LuRptPuxSOusEJR73jSLWA #/registration

👉 Explore the SRHM Special Collection on Sexual Pleasure and join us in celebrating Every Body this World Sexual Health Day.

SRHM is pleased to share a learning session hosted by the Just Futures Collaborative, inviting colleagues and friends wo...
02/09/2026

SRHM is pleased to share a learning session hosted by the Just Futures Collaborative, inviting colleagues and friends working to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, particularly from a public health perspective.

The session will introduce the Justice Beyond Jails interactive storytelling tool and use two stories to explore the limits of criminal law as a response to GBV. Together, participants will consider non-carceral approaches that centre healing, accountability, safety and prevention.

The session offers a co-learning space to draw on shared knowledge and critically examine how we can respond more effectively to people who have experienced harm, while addressing the social and economic conditions that drive GBV.

🗓️ Join the session and take part in the conversation.

👉 Learn more and register:
https://events.humanitix.com/rethinking-our-responses-to-gender-based-violence

🩸 How is menstrual health connected with mental health?New research in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters explores t...
31/08/2026

🩸 How is menstrual health connected with mental health?

New research in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters explores the relationship between menstrual health, depression and anxiety among women and people who menstruate in Spain.

The study analysed survey data from 1,404 participants across 32 healthcare centres in five Spanish regions. It found that several aspects of poorer menstrual health were associated with higher odds of more severe depression and anxiety.

These included:

🔴 Heavy menstrual bleeding
🔴 Intense menstrual pain
🔴 Frequent premenstrual symptoms
🔴 Menstrual stigma, taboo and discrimination
🔴 Menstrual poverty and lack of access to products
🔴 Reduced participation in social activities during menstruation

The findings highlight the importance of understanding menstrual health as part of wider health and social inequalities, and of recognising the connections between menstrual and mental health.

📖 Read the article by Andrea García-Egea, Tomàs López-Jiménez, Uxune Apalategi-Gómez, Maria José Fernández-Domínguez, Carmen Rodríguez-Domínguez and Vinita Mahtani-Chugani:

Menstrual health outcomes and associations with depression and anxiety in Spain: a cross-sectional study

🔗 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2026.2702119

What did the Andrea Prudente case reveal about abortion reform in Malta?In 2022, American tourist Andrea Prudente was de...
28/08/2026

What did the Andrea Prudente case reveal about abortion reform in Malta?

In 2022, American tourist Andrea Prudente was denied an abortion in Malta despite having a pregnancy that could not survive. Her case sparked unprecedented social mobilisation and forced the Maltese government to review its abortion law.

A new article in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters examines what happened next, analysing media coverage and parliamentary debates to explore the politics of reproductive governance and abortion reform in Malta.

The authors find that sustained advocacy by pro-choice movements was instrumental in pushing the government towards legislative review. However, a powerful and well-organised anti-choice countermovement successfully challenged proposed reforms, with the government ultimately responding to pressure from conservative, religious and civil society actors.

The resulting amendment created Malta's first legal exception to its absolute abortion ban, but only in exceptionally restrictive circumstances to save a pregnant person's life. The authors argue that this demonstrates how legal reform can occur without creating meaningful access to abortion care.

At the same time, the Prudente case has fractured Malta's previous political and legal consensus on abortion, creating a precedent for future legal challenges and continued advocacy for reproductive justice.

📖 Read the article by Dr Andreana Dibben, Dr Natalie Psaila Stabile and Prof Isabel Stabile:

The Andrea Prudente case: a case study on social mobilisation, reproductive governance, and the politics of abortion reform in Malta
🔗 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2026.2697378

🌍 Digital innovation for safe abortion care in RwandaHow can locally developed digital solutions help overcome barriers ...
26/08/2026

🌍 Digital innovation for safe abortion care in Rwanda

How can locally developed digital solutions help overcome barriers to sexual and reproductive healthcare?

👉 In a new commentary in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, Frida Temple, Muhammed Semakula, Thierry Sebakunzi, Marie Claire Iryanyawera, Olugbemiga Adelakin and Renata Tallarico explore the development of a telehealth tool designed to expand access to safe abortion care in Rwanda.

🌍 The initiative was driven by national ownership and the active involvement of young Rwandan innovators. Through a hackathon, young people helped develop a secure, context-specific platform that enables remote consultation between patients, midwives and nurses, and medical doctors.

The platform also strengthens data privacy, patient confidentiality and clinical documentation, while helping connect rural primary care with specialised medical oversight.

👉 The authors highlight the importance of people-centred design, youth engagement and locally led innovation in developing sustainable digital health solutions that can advance health equity.

📖 Read Telehealth for All: Rwanda's digital leap in sexual and reproductive healthcare access

🔗 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2026.2709970

🌎 What does feminist abortion advocacy look like in Ecuador, and how have activists challenged restrictive reproductive ...
24/08/2026

🌎 What does feminist abortion advocacy look like in Ecuador, and how have activists challenged restrictive reproductive policies?

New research in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters examines feminist advocacy for legal, safe and free abortion in Ecuador from 2006 to 2023, including the period following the decriminalisation of abortion in cases of r**e.

👉 Drawing on participant observation and analysis of texts produced by Ecuadorian feminist organisations, the study identifies three tactical strategies: reparation, rights and dissidence.

These approaches frame abortion in different ways, from seeking reparation for reproductive violence, to claiming abortion as a right, to building autonomous networks that support self-managed abortion outside formal institutions.

✊ The research shows how these strategies can complement one another, while also creating tensions, and highlights the importance of understanding feminist advocacy within changing political contexts and the evolving influence of anti-choice forces.

📖 Read the article by Cynthia Carofilis, Paz Guarderas and Isabel Goicolea:

Reparation, rights, and dissidence: A qualitative study of feminist advocacy for legal, safe, and free abortion in Ecuador
🔗https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2026.2698235

What does it take to create lasting change in efforts to end child marriage, especially at a time of shrinking developme...
21/08/2026

What does it take to create lasting change in efforts to end child marriage, especially at a time of shrinking development budgets and growing humanitarian need?

🎧 In the latest episode of the SRHM Podcast, SRHM Chief Executive Eszter Kismodi speaks with Lara van Kouterik, Interim Co-CEO and Director of Strategy, Evidence and Impact at Girls Not Brides, about why current funding models are falling short and what needs to change.

Drawing on a recent SRHM blog by former Girls Not Brides CEO Dr Faith Mwangi-Powell, the conversation explores why short-term, project-based funding is often ill-suited to addressing complex, interconnected challenges such as child marriage.

🌏 Lara highlights the need for an ecosystem approach that brings together governments, civil society, donors and communities across sectors including education, sexual and reproductive health and rights, social protection and gender equality. She shares examples from India and Malawi showing how coordinated, long-term investment and strong political commitment can drive sustainable progress.

The episode also explores trust-based philanthropy, investment in grassroots organisations, and integrating child marriage prevention into humanitarian responses as conflict and climate crises place more girls at risk.

👉Despite the challenges, there is reason for optimism: we know what works - now we need the funding architecture to make it last.

🎧 Listen to the full conversation:
https://youtu.be/RI3u27S3VbU

Also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major podcast platforms: https://www.srhm.org/srhm-podcast/

Resources:
🔹 Child Marriage Research to Action Network: https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/en/learning-resources/child-marriage-research-action-network/
🔹 International funding to end child marriage: https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/en/learning-resources/resource-centre/international-funding-end-child-marriage-2015-2024-report/
🔹 Where the evidence stands on child marriage: https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/en/learning-resources/resource-centre/evidence-child-marriage-stocktaking-summary-report/

🏫 What does school-based gender-based violence look like through the eyes of adolescents themselves?👉New research in Sex...
21/08/2026

🏫 What does school-based gender-based violence look like through the eyes of adolescents themselves?

👉New research in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters explores how adolescents in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, experience, understand and respond to gender-based violence in their schools.

The study involved 90 adolescents aged 15 to 17 across four high schools. Participants described multiple forms of violence, including physical abuse, humiliation, economic coercion and sexual harassment. The research also found that victim-blaming, fear of reputational harm and institutional norms often discouraged students from reporting violence.

🌍 The findings highlight the need for school and community-level approaches that challenge the norms that legitimise violence, strengthen accountability and protect students who speak out. Crucially, adolescents themselves must have a voice in shaping strategies to prevent and respond to school-based gender-based violence.

📖 Read the article by Julie H. Hernandez, Muanda F. Mbadu and Lorentz Murrairi: “What bothers the heart”: a phenomenological study of adolescents’ experiences and interpretations of school-based gender-based violence in Kinshasa, DRC

🔗 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26410397.2026.2702756

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