Sexual and reproductive health and rights in the sustainable development goals and the post-2015 development agenda: less than a year to go.

Since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994 there have been significant achievements in moving towards the goal of sexual and reproductive health and rights. Yet there have also been disappointments, as demonstrated in the Millennium Development Goals, even though in 2007 a target on reproductive health was added. Most recently, the 20-year review of the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action, ICPD Beyond 2014, has taken place, which has moved forward the sexual and reproductive health and rights agenda.

Ensuring the inclusion of sexual and reproductive health and rights under a sustainable development goal on health in the post-2015 human rights framework for development.

Since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo placed reproductive health and rights firmly on the international agenda, civil society and other advocates have worked ceaselessly to ensure that they remain central to women's empowerment and have taken all opportunities to expand the framework to include sexual health and rights. When the development process changed with the introduction of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, sexual and reproductive health and rights were excluded, and only in 2007 was universal access to reproductive health added back in. In 2014 and 2015, the future of ICPD Beyond 2014, the MDGs and the post-2015 development framework will be decided, following consultations and meetings across the globe.

Integrating sexual and reproductive rights into the medical curriculum.

All individuals and couples are entitled to enjoy reproductive rights, which are guaranteed through human rights that are already recognized in national laws, international human rights documents and other consensus documents. Indeed, they are essential for the attainment of the goal of the International Conference on Population and Development Goal of universal access to reproductive health through the primary healthcare system by 2015. However, reproductive rights are usually absent from the undergraduate curriculum in medical schools.

Implementing the ICPD Programme of Action: what a difference a decade makes.

The Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994 was conceived as a 20-year programme. Now, at its mid-point in 2004, we have reached a time for assessment and re-commitment to its goals. This paper is a reflection on some of the political and other changes that have taken place during the first ten years of the Programme of Action and their implications for its implementation in the coming decade.

Incorporating sexual and reproductive health care in the medical curriculum in developing countries.

Medical educators have a responsibility to train physicians and other health professionals in the core competencies needed to improve the sexual and reproductive health of their communities. Yet sexual and reproductive health care is significantly under-represented in the basic educational curriculum for medical and other health professionals, as well as in continuing medical education and professional development programmes for practising physicians and other health professionals. The Commonwealth Medical Association Trust is developing a model curriculum on sexual and reproductive health that can be integrated into undergraduate medical education and used with appropriate amendments for continuing medical education.