Cape Town, South Africa, 29 October - 01 November 2019

Universal access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) is one of the key components of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 and 5 and contributes to the achievement of all the other SDGs. Sadly however, in Africa the SRHR goals are those that made little progress during the MDG era where no country in the African Region achieved the target on universal access to reproductive health. Given its critical roles therefore, WHO/AFRO is implementing a new four-year initiative, launched on 9 January 2019, to enhance existing efforts for reducing needless deaths from pregnancy in the region focusing on the provision of comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) services, within the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) framework, especially for the most vulnerable populations, including those living in humanitarian settings.

Included in the objectives and program of work for the 2019 year under this initiative is a strategy to promote SRHR research focused on addressing the problem of unsafe abortion within the African Region. Such research is to support successful implementation of SRHR activities. A regional research prioritization exercise on SRHR with focus on safe abortion and post-abortion care is therefore organized to this end. The aim is to enable the Regional Office and focus countries to identify key research topics and prioritize these for implementation over the next 3 years. It is also to help in the identification, documentation and sharing of some best practices in the field.

Consequently, and following an online survey on the topic, a workshop is convened in Cape Town, South Africa, bringing together SRHR focal points and experts, from WHO Country Offices (Benin, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, DRC, Chad, South Africa, Mali, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria), Academia, the West African Health Organization, key SRHR researchers and related agencies in the Region, to brain storm and share information. Additionally, the full participation of the participating countries will provide an opportunity for them to identify and also prioritize their specific research needs, particularly those relating to family planning, safe abortion and post abortion care. Emphasis is placed on Operational and Implementation Research that will lead to accelerated uptake of SRHR guidelines and interventions and lead to reductions in maternal mortality due to unsafe abortions.

The sessions include updates on the SRHR situation and overview of unsafe abortion in the African Region, as a contributor to maternal Mortality and Morbidity; review of evidences on commonly accepted interventions as best practices for adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health; country experiences in overall SRHR program implementation, related research findings by research institutes, familiarization with existing SRHR guidelines, research prioritization. A series of group works is used to come up with the regional research agenda and work plan. Additionally, the participants will agree on modalities for implementation of the work plan in all priority countries in the Region. This regional research agenda will serve as an advocacy and resource mobilization tool to promote research and inform evidence-based decision making in SRHR with a focus on preventing unsafe abortion.