Keywords:
Reproductive health
Sexual health
Health education
Public health
Schools
Health systems
Teaching
Courses
Short course
Context
History
Ethics
Politics
Gender
Social aspects
Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM)
ITM
Belgium
UK
Europe, West
USA
America, North
Brazil
America, Latin
Egypt
Africa, North
Lebanon
Asia, West
Mediterranean
Malaysia
Asia, Southeast
Sudan
Africa, East
South Africa
Africa, Southern
Abstract:
This paper addresses the challenges faced in mainstreaming the teaching of sexual and reproductive health and rights into public health education. For this paper, we define sexual and reproductive health and rights education as including not only its biomedical aspects but also an understanding of its history, values and politics, grounded in gender politics and social justice, addressing sexuality, and placed within a broader context of health systems and global health. Using a case study approach with an opportunistically selected sample of schools of public health within our regional contexts, we examine the status of sexual and reproductive health and rights education and some of the drivers and obstacles to the development and delivery of sexual and reproductive health and rights curricula. Despite diverse national and institutional contexts, there are many commonalities. Teaching of sexual and reproductive health and rights is not fully integrated into core curricula. Existing initiatives rely on personal faculty interest or short-term courses, neither of which are truly sustainable or replicable. We call for a multidisciplinary and more comprehensive integration of sexual and reproductive health and rights in public health education. The education of tomorrow's public health leaders is critical, and a strategy is needed to ensure that they understand and are prepared to engage with the range of sexual and reproductive health and rights issues within their historical and political contexts.