Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters Podcast

In this episode, we explore a groundbreaking study titled "Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to sexual and reproductive health services for women and gender-diverse people with disabilities in Canada: a qualitative study." published in the SRHM Journal. Joining us are Meredith Evans, Medical Anthropologist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Keat Welsh, Peer Researcher and disabled Artist, Activist and Educator, both in the Department of Health and Society at the University of Toronto Scarborough.Useful links:Full paper at srhmjournal.org: Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to sexual and reproductive health services for women and gender-diverse people with disabilities in Canada: a qualitative study.More SRHM papers related to disability: https://www.srhm.org/key-topics/Instructions for authorsCall for PapersFind out more about Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters at srhm.org

We’re back with another important conversation that demands attention. Today, we’re diving into acrucial yet often overlooked issue: post-partumobstetric violence—and how the pharmaceuticalization of post-partum depression treatment might be contributing to it.We’re honored to have two brilliant guests with us, the authors of a compelling new commentary in the SRHM Journal: Alicia Ely Yamin – Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and Adjunct Senior Lecturer on Health Policy and Management at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Lisa Cosgrove – Clinical Psychologist and Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and Faculty fellow at UMas Boston’s Applied Ethics Centre. Useful links: Commentary: Extending the concept of “obstetric violence” to post-partum experiences: cautions regarding the “first ever” pill for post-partum depressionSRHM Call for Papers Instructions for authors to publish in the SRHM JournalSRHM Blog

In this episode we have the privilege of hosting a crucial conversation with the authors of a thought-provoking new commentary published in the SRHM Journal: Lessons from Kenya on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Policy-Making: The Need to Centre Voices from Africa in Global Discourses.Joining us are three powerhouse leaders in the SRHR space—Evelyn Opondo, Africa Regional Director at the International Center for Research on Women; Jade Maina, Executive Director of the Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health; and Nelly Munyasia, Executive Director of the Reproductive Health Network Kenya—all joining us from Nairobi.The podcast discusses the importance of centering African voices in global sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) policy-making. It highlights insights from a commentary on Kenya’s SRHR landscape, particularly in response to the rising global anti-rights movement. Useful links: Full commentary: Lessons from Kenya on sexual reproductive health and rights policy-making: the need to centre voices from Africa in global discoursesSRHM Journal page: srhmjournal.orgSRHM Call for Papers

In this episode, SRHM Associate Editor Nina Sun sits down with SRHM Journal Executive Editor, Emma Pitchforth, to discuss the key highlights from the 2024 Open Issue of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters Journal. They dive into special collections focusing on sexual pleasure and abortion rights, explore the current call for papers on sexual pleasure, war, and armed conflict, and preview an upcoming call for papers related to abortion rights. Tune in for a thoughtful conversation on these critical topics in sexual and reproductive health and rights.Useful links:SRHM Journal Open Issue:srhmjournal.orgCall for PapersInstructions for authors

In this 10 minute editor's summary episode we hear from Nina Sun, SRHM Associate Editor, and Emma Pitchforth, SRHM Editor-in-Chief. Emma gives an overview of the 2023 Open Issue, the range of topics and gives a summary of three papers that stood out to her personally. Nina and Emma also discuss what themes will be important for the SRHM journal to publish in 2024 and what makes the SRHM Open issue different to other journal publications. Useful links: 2023 Open Issue Research article: The difficult process of autonomous choice: using I-poems to understand experiences of abortion-seekers in The Netherlands Lianne Holten, Rosalie van der Wolf & Marit S. G. van der Pijl Commentary: Supreme Court of India judgement on abortion as a fundamental right: breaking new ground Dipika Jain Review: A reanalysis of the Institute for Research and Evaluation report that challenges non-US, school-based comprehensive sexuality education evidence base Kelly Van Treeck, Shatha Elnakib & Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli Submit a paper to the 2024 Open Issue Open Issue FAQ Sign up to the SRHM Newsletter

Who produces knowledge on gender and sexual and reproductive health in Africa, and whose voices shape the evidence that informs policy and practice?In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, Sapna Desai, Editor-in-Chief of the SRHM Journal, speaks with researchers Woldekidan Amde and Kéfilath Bello about their recent scoping review examining authorship, geography, and funding in research on gender approaches to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) across Africa.Analysing 45 publications from 2012 to 2022, the study reveals striking imbalances. Most first and senior authors were based outside Africa, funding overwhelmingly came from high income countries, and over one fifth of papers had no local authors at all. These patterns raise critical questions about power in knowledge production, the credibility and relevance of research, and the ability of evidence to influence policy and practice locally.The conversation explores why these inequities persist despite growing calls to decolonise global health. It also looks at what must change: strengthening local research ecosystems, expanding mentoring for early career researchers, supporting south–south collaboration, and ensuring equitable funding and authorship practices.Together, the speakers reflect on how more locally led, contextually grounded research is essential not only for equity, but for better quality knowledge and meaningful change in sexual and reproductive health.Read the full paper, 'Imbalances in authorship, geographic and institutional contexts, and funding sources in research on gender approaches to sexual and reproductive health in Africa: a scoping review' by Woldekidan Amde, Kéfilath Bello, Tanya Jacobs, TK Sundari Ravindran & Asha S. George at srhmjournal.org.

In this episode of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters Podcast, Eszter Kismődi speaks with Dr Shirin Heidari and Professor Monica A. Onyango about their multi-country study, Survival Strategies and Health Repercussions in Forced Displacement. Drawing on research conducted between 2021 and 2024 in Jordan, Lebanon, Türkiye, Greece and Switzerland, they examine how transactional sex emerges within conditions of legal precarity, restricted asylum regimes, housing insecurity and limited access to work and services. The conversation challenges binary notions of “choice” and “force”, highlights intersecting health consequences including sexual and reproductive health outcomes, and calls for integrated, rights-based responses grounded in lived realities.Read the full paper at srhmjournal.org.

This Valentine’s Day and World Condom Day, SRHM turns to pleasure.In this episode, we spotlight the editorial of SRHM’s Pleasure Collection developed in collaboration with The Pleasure Project and Agents of Ishq.Too often, sexual and reproductive health and rights are framed only through risk, prevention and harm. This editorial invites us to think differently. It calls for a politics of pleasure that is decolonial, grounded in lived experience, and willing to challenge hierarchies about who produces knowledge and what counts as credible.Marking 13 and 14 February, we also highlight a clear message backed by evidence: when pleasure is centred, condom use increases. Pleasure and protection belong together.Featuring a reading by Anne Philpott and Elena Ascione from The Pleasure Project, this episode is also an open invitation. Send us your love letters. Send your papers, blogs, poetry, podcast ideas, art, as we celebrate sexual pleasure as a key aspect of sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. Because pleasure is progress. Pleasure matters.Useful links:Read the editorial, 'Finding the cosmos of intimacies: where pleasurable safe sex dances with liberation' by Anne Phihlpott and Paromita Vohra at srhmjournal.org.Explore the Pleasure Collection of the SRHM Journal at srhm.org.

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 decisionThis episode is being re-released on the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation 2026.

In a new episode of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) podcast, SRHM convenes leading experts and advocates to unpack the implications of three newly issued U.S. foreign assistance rules and what they mean for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) worldwide.To explore the nature, scope, and consequences of these rules, SRHM Chief Executive, Eszter Kismődi, is joined by Elizabeth Sully, Director of International Research at the Guttmacher Institute; Amy Friedrich-Karnik, Director of Federal Policy at the Guttmacher Institute; and Mina Barling, Director of External Relations at the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).Together, they bring complementary perspectives spanning policy analysis, evidence generation, and frontline service delivery and advocacy.

Eszter Kismodi, Chief Executive of SRHM, is joined by Allan Maleche (KELIN), Mercy Kalemela and Audrey Bigeti (Girls to Women Kenya) to explore how extractive industries are reshaping land, power and sexual and reproductive health and rights in Kenya.Focusing on gold mining in Kakamega County, the episode examines land dispossession, mercury exposure, gender-based violence and the everyday health risks faced by women and girls, while situating these harms within a broader global pattern of extractivism.A timely conversation on development, justice and why SRHR must be central to debates on land and resource extraction.

At a time when sexual and reproductive health and rights are under renewed political and ideological attack globally, African researchers and advocates are strengthening their collective voice and leadership on abortion. In this SRHM Podcast episode, Eszter Kismődi spokewith Naa Dodoo, Ramatou Ouedraogo and Béniel Agossou about the work of ACORCA – the African Coalition for Research, Communication and Abortion and itsvision for an Africa where every woman and girl can access safe, high-quality abortion services without stigma or fear.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, host Eszter Kismödi speaks with Katie Mayall, Laurenne Ajayi, and Caitlin Gruer—authors of the article Global progress in abortion law reform: a comparative legal analysis since the International Conference on Population and Development. Together, they unpack three decades of global shifts in abortion law, drawing on unique legal mapping by the Center for Reproductive Rights.The conversation explores key findings, including the surge of countries adopting abortion on request in recent years, the influence of feminist and intersectional movements, and the role of courts and constitutions in shaping access. The guests also discuss regional patterns, from the momentum of Latin America’s “green wave” to restrictive backlashes in places like the US, Poland and Nicaragua.As they highlight, while more than 825 million women of reproductive age now live in countries that have liberalised their laws since ICPD, one in four still live under highly restrictive regimes. The episode closes with a reflection on both the progress to celebrate and the urgent need for vigilance, coalition-building, and a vision of true reproductive autonomy where abortion is not only legal, but fully accessible as a human right.Useful links:Read the full paper: Global progress in abortion law reform: a comparative legal analysis since the International Conference on Population and Development (1994–2023) at srhmjournal.org. See our call for papers on 'Ensuring access to abortion as a matter of rights, equity and justice' at srhm.org/call-for-papers

In this episode, SRHM Chief Executive Eszter Kismödi speaks with Dr Faysal El Kak, Associate Professor at the American University of Beirut and newly elected President of the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS). Against a backdrop of global political and economic turbulence, Dr El Kak reflects on the pressing challenges and emerging opportunities for sexual health worldwide—from rising anti-rights movements and economic pressures to bold youth activism and growing intersectional approaches.He shares his vision of WAS as a powerful convening force, uniting organisations, agencies, and advocates to protect and promote sexual health, dignity, and rights across the life course. The conversation also previews the upcoming World Sexual Health Assembly in Porto, set to bring together major international players to shape a collective roadmap for the next five years.

In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, we explore how people in Kenya are accessing safe abortion care online in the face of restrictive laws and limited health system support. Host Julia Hussein is joined by researchers Kenneth Juma (APHRC), Hazal Atay (Women on Web/Sciences Po), and Céline Miani (Bielefeld University) to discuss their study analysing nearly 900 telehealth abortion consultations via Women on Web between 2013 and 2019.The conversation dives into who is using these services, why they turn to teleabortion, and how this mode of care fits within broader frameworks of self-care and reproductive rights. Recorded during #SelfCareMonth, this episode highlights the power of self-managed abortion as both a health intervention and a means of reproductive autonomy.Useful links:Read the full paper, 'Telehealth abortion services via Women on Web in Kenya (2013–2019): a descriptive analysis of the characteristics and motivations of the care seekers' at srhmjournal.orgCall for papers on ensuring access to abortion as a matter of rights, equity and justice' at srhm.org. More papers on SRHR and self-care on the SRHM Blog