Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec;159(3):735-742.
doi: 10.1002/ijgo.14339. Epub 2022 Aug 4.

Are sexual and reproductive health and rights taught in medical school? Results from a global survey

Margit Endler  1 , Taghreed Al-Haidari  2 , Chiara Benedetto  3 , Sameena Chowdhury  4 , Jan Christilaw  5 , Faysal El Kak  6   7 , Diana Galimberti  8 , Miguel Gutierrez  9 , Shaimaa Ibrahim  10 , Shantha Kumari  11 , Colleen McNicholas  12 , Desiré Mostajo Flores  13 , John Muganda  14 , Atziri Ramirez-Negrin  15 , Hemantha Senanayake  16 , Rubina Sohail  17 , Marleen Temmerman  18 , Kristina Gemzell Danielsson  1
Affiliations

Are sexual and reproductive health and rights taught in medical school? Results from a global survey

Margit Endler et al. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Our aim was to investigate the inclusion of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) topics in medical curricula and the perceived need for, feasibility of, and barriers to teaching SRHR. We distributed a survey with questions on SRHR content, and factors regulating SRHR content, to medical universities worldwide using chain referral. Associations between high SRHR content and independent variables were analyzed using unconditional linear regression or χ2 test. Text data were analyzed by thematic analysis. We collected data from 219 respondents, 143 universities and 54 countries. Clinical SRHR topics such as safe pregnancy and childbirth (95.7%) and contraceptive methods (97.2%) were more frequently reported as taught compared with complex SRHR topics such as sexual violence (63.8%), unsafe abortion (65.7%), and the vulnerability of LGBTQIA persons (23.2%). High SRHR content was associated with high-income level (P = 0.003) and low abortion restriction (P = 0.042) but varied within settings. Most respondents described teaching SRHR as essential to the health of society. Complexity was cited as a barrier, as were cultural taboos, lack of stakeholder recognition, and dependency on fees and ranking.

Keywords: gender equality; health equity; medical education; sexual and reproductive health and rights.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Proportion of universities that include clinical sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) topics in their medical undergraduate curricula according to respondents to a global survey (n = 143).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Proportion of universities that include complex sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) topics in their medical undergraduate curricula according to respondents to a global survey (n = 143).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Proportion of universities that include laws and policies related to sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) topics in their medical undergraduate curricula according to respondents to a global survey (n = 143).
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Need for, feasibility of, and perceived barriers to inclusion of comprehensive sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) concepts in their medical undergraduate curricula according to respondents to a global survey (n = 143).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pugh S. Politics, power, and sexual and reproductive health and rights: impacts and opportunities. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters. 2019;27(2):1‐5. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Understanding the Links Between Sexual and Reproductive Health Status and Poverty Reduction . UNFPA Policy Briefs. UNFPA, McGill University, National University of Ireland, Galway. 2014. https://www.mcgill.ca/isid/files/isid/pb_2012_18_oxhorn.pdf. Accessed December 5th 2021.
    1. Call to Action to the Global Community . Attaining universal health coverage through sexual and reproductive health and rights and HIV linkages. July 23rd 2018. https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/linkages/en/. Accesses 5th December 2021.
    1. The Guttmacher‐Lancet Commission . Accelerate progress—sexual and reproductive health and rights for all: report of the Guttmacher–lancet commission. Executive summary. The Lancet. 2018;391(10140):2642‐2692. - PubMed
    1. Hepburn JS, Mohamed IS, Ekman B, Sundewall J. Review of the inclusion of SRHR interventions in essential packages of health services in low‐ and lower‐middle income countries. Sex Reprod Health Matters. 2021;29(1):1985826. - PMC - PubMed