Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Women should have the right to health information and services to make the best choices for their bodies and their lives.
Sexual and reproductive health is at the heart of the most important decisions a woman makes: if and when to marry, how long to stay in school and how many children to have.
Millions of women and girls around the world do not get to freely make these choices. Poor health services and information limit their freedoms – and put their lives at risk. Globally, complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the second cause of death for girls aged 15 to 19.
When women can make informed choices about their bodies, they can make better choices for their families, their education, their livelihoods and their happiness.
What is Oxfam Doing?
Together with local organizations, we put sexual and reproductive health choices back in women's hands. When women can access vital health information and services, they can lead healthy, fulfilling lives.
Collaborate
With local partners, we strengthen health systems and community structures.
Inform
A woman can only demand her rights if she knows what those rights are.
Advocate
We rally communities and challenge the policies, systems and laws that need to change.
IMPACT IN ACTION
Between 2019 and 2024, pregnancy amongst teenage girls (ages 15-19) decreased from 19% to 8% across project districts (a 58% relative reduction).
Mutinta was a Grade 8 student in Zambia who left school to marry, believing it would ease her family’s financial hardship.
Chanda, a peer educator with a local health facility’s outreach program, learned of her situation and began visiting her regularly. Through these conversations, Mutinta gained information about sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the risks of early marriage and teenage pregnancy.
With this support, Mutinta left her marriage, returned to school with a scholarship, and continued her education. She is now training as a peer educator herself, advocating for SRHR in her community and supporting other girls to avoid early marriage and make informed choices about their futures.
Related Stories and Features
In Mozambique’s northern province of Nampula, many girls grow up facing difficult choices long before they reach adulthood. Poverty, limited access to information, and long-standing social expectations often push girls toward early marriage and early pregnancy, making it harder for them to stay in school and shape their own futures. Young people, local organizations and community leaders are coming together to create spaces where girls and young women can learn about their rights, access health services and make informed decisions about their futures.
Over the past six years, we have worked together with community leaders, health workers, youth advocates, and women’s rights organizations to strengthen sexual and reproductive health and rights across Southern Africa and Asia-Pacific. Here are just a few of the stories that show us what that change looks like.
Three Steps You Can Take Now
