Galvanizing innovation and financing for sexual and reproductive health and rights in Africa

Sexual and reproductive health and rights are crucial to living healthy lives and reaching one’s full potential. In addition to the many health benefits, improved access to sexual and reproductive health and rights has positive impacts on myriad other spheres of life, such as education, employment, livelihoods and access to resources.

In Africa, civil society organizations are at the forefront of efforts to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). But there are significant barriers to achieving meaningful progress, including underfunding and fragmentation of health, social and education systems; limited access to high-quality information and services related to SRHR; and sociocultural norms and beliefs.

More innovation and sustainable financing strategies for SRHR programs would go a long way towards overcoming these challenges and advancing SRHR on the continent.

Harnessing the power of technology

Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) have demonstrated encouraging potential for enhancing the delivery of information and services for maternal, sexual and reproductive health and rights. A recently established innovation hub on AI for sexual, reproductive and maternal health in Africa is already making a difference.

Supported by IDRC, the hub seeks to strengthen the capacity of African innovators, researchers and policymakers working on SRHR, while strengthening the continent’s health systems through the responsible development and deployment of AI innovations.

The hub is developing AI-driven solutions, such as chatbots, to enhance access to maternal and reproductive health information in various languages, making information and services more readily available to more people. However, many African languages are still underrepresented in AI tools and services, an issue that should be addressed to enhance access and inclusion. Currently, AI solutions still largely rely on human oversight and verification to ensure accuracy, including when providing SRHR information to vulnerable groups like disabled youth and refugees.

Ensuring diverse voices are heard

NGOs are playing an important role in improving access to SRHR services for adolescent girls. ZanaAfrica, for example, works to equip adolescent girls in Kenya with the tools they need to safely navigate puberty, including through education programs that improve girls’ reproductive health knowledge. The NGO also offers locally made menstrual hygiene products to girls. Many young girls in Nairobi’s informal Kibera settlement and elsewhere struggle to access sanitary products, leading them to turn to older male friends for help, often in exchange for sex, resulting in pregnancies and school dropouts.

The inclusion and mentoring of boys in SRHR efforts is crucial, as many feel excluded and turn to drugs or criminal activities. Such inclusive approaches can challenge and transform harmful cultural norms that hinder access to SRHR services.

It is important to address the needs of both in-school and out-of-school adolescents. Actively involving young people, including girls and boys, in the design, implementation and monitoring of SRHR programs ensures that a broad range of perspectives are considered. Similarly, community involvement and advocacy helps guarantee that diverse voices — those of adolescents, women, men, teachers and local leaders — are heard.

In Senegal, an IDRC-supported initiative is doing just that, working with young people, policymakers and communities to help youth, especially adolescent girls, to effectively exercise and advocate for their rights to access and enjoy reproductive health, including prevention of gender-based violence.

Since its launch in 2020, the initiative, known as ADOS, has made it possible to reach more than 3,300 people through sensitization activities. This includes more than 340 adolescents trained in mobilization and advocacy for adolescent reproductive health and in addressing the negative consequences of gender-based violence. The mobilization of adolescents and young people allowed them to benefit from capacity strengthening and to establish themselves as leaders in their communities. They can thus contribute to challenging the social and cultural norms that tolerate sexual violence and constitute obstacles to good reproductive health.

Collaborating to reach marginalized groups

Another prerequisite for ensuring sustainable access to quality SRHR services are innovative domestic financing strategies. Partnerships involving central and local governments, the private sector and civil society are crucial to scale and sustain successful SRHR innovations and programs for everyone, especially people from marginalized groups.

Multistakeholder collaboration to reach marginalized groups is also at the heart of a new IDRC initiative supporting greater realization of neglected SRHR areas by underserved populations in Africa. The initiative, called Addressing Neglected Areas of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa (ANeSA), is a seven-year CAD29.9-million initiative co-funded by IDRC, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Global Affairs Canada.

ANeSA will generate and promote the use of high-quality evidence on sustainable, scalable interventions to transform service design and delivery; strengthen the development and implementation of policies and legal instruments; and contribute to building equitable and sustainable health systems to address the intersecting challenges facing underserved populations in Africa. It will also build on the capacity of civil society organizations, researchers and research organizations, policymakers, decision-makers and communities to integrate gender-transformative approaches within SRHR research.

Collaboration across the board is essential to address the complex challenges and create supportive environments for promoting and accessing SRHR services. By harnessing the power of research, technology and partnerships, there is hope for a future where universal access to SRHR is a reality, contributing to a more equitable and inclusive world for all.

This article is based on a Gender Café co-hosted by Global Affairs Canada and IDRC in Nairobi, Kenya, in August 2024. Participants included Noel Akinyi, SRHR program officer, Centre for Rights Education and Awareness; Dr. Rosalind Parkes-Ratanshi, director, Academy of Health Innovation, Infectious Disease Institute, Uganda; Megan Mukuria, founder, ZanaAfrica; and Joy, an adolescent girl; among others. 

Contributors: Kathryn Toure, IDRC regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa; Samuel Oji Oti, senior program specialist, Global Health program, IDRC; Angela Baiya-Wadeyua, knowledge-sharing advisor, IDRC; Janine Cocker, head of development, High Commission of Canada in Kenya and also covering Uganda and Somalia; and Kagure Wakaba, gender specialist associated with Global Affairs Canada.