Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters Podcast

A conversation between Laura Ferguson, Ramatou Ouedraogo, Njeri Mbuthia, Jonna Both and Vanessa Sekpon.

On Safe Abortion Day, 28 September, SRHM explores what happens after abortion rights are recognised in law. In 2021, Benin expanded the legal grounds for abortion, marking a significant step towards safer abortion care. But as research from Benin shows, legal reform is only the beginning.

In this episode, researchers from the African Population and Health Research Center and Rutgers Netherlands discuss the realities of accessing abortion care, including limited information, cost, conscientious objection, stigma and other structural barriers. They also highlight the vital role of civil society organisations in providing information, referrals and support, and share lessons for turning legal rights into meaningful access.

Read the blog: Nothing exists in a vacuum: A case of the law, systems and SRHR in Benin:

https://www.srhm.org/news/nothing-exists-in-a-vacuum-a-case-of-the-law-systems-and-srhr-in-benin/

If we designed the HIV response around the girls who need it most, what would we do differently?

A conversation between Laura Ferguson (SRHM), Serah Malaba (Tiko) and Lindsay Hayden (Elton John AIDS Foundation).

In the latest episode of the SRHM Podcast, SRHM Chief Executive Eszter Kismodi speaks with Lara van Kouterik, Interim Co-CEO and Director of Strategy, Evidence and Impact at Girls Not Brides, about why current funding models are falling short and what needs to change.

Drawing on a recent SRHM blog by former Girls Not Brides CEO Dr Faith Mwangi-Powell, the conversation explores why short-term, project-based funding is often ill-suited to addressing complex, interconnected challenges such as child marriage.

Read the blog, 'We know what works. So why can’t we build the architecture to make it last?': https://www.srhm.org/news/we-know-what-works-so-why-cant-we-build-the-architecture-to-make-it-last/

In this episode, Eszter Kismődi and Jamie Vernaelde, Senior researcher at Ipas, explore how anti-rights movements cultivate young people’s involvement from an early age, using schools, universities and campus organisations as entry points.

They trace how this involvement can continue through internships, professional training, mentoring and political networks, creating pathways into positions of influence in law, medicine, communications, advocacy and policy.

Drawing on examples from different countries and contexts, the conversation examines how movements invest in young people not only as activists, but as future professionals and leaders. It looks at the role of education, professional networks, funding, social media and long-term relationship-building in sustaining influence over decades.

The episode asks what these strategies mean for sexual and reproductive health and rights, and what can be learned about the importance of investing in the next generation of SRHR advocates, researchers and professionals.

Read the full report from Ipas: https://www.ipas.org/resource/future-proofing-the-professionalization-of-an-anti-rights-youth-generation/

Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) knowledge production spans a wide range of methodological approaches and perspectives. Yet one set of voices and views that have been missing in discourse are those of practitioners and communities.

While SRHM – together with its peer-reviewed open access journal Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) – has made consistent efforts to engage activists, implementers and community-based organisations, the field at large has not embraced the experience of communities as ‘evidence’ (McHugh et al., 2024).

To address this form of epistemic injustice, IPPF and SRHM are launching the ‘reclaiming knowledge production’ initiative, which aims to foreground the voices, lived experience and expertise of communities and SRHR providers/practitioners in knowledge production.

In partnership, IPPF and SRHM have launched a call for proposals for an SRHM article collection.

Read the full call for proposals at srhmjournal.org.

What does intimacy mean in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence?

This discussion brings together critical perspectives on the rise of AI companions, chatbots and other technologies that promise connection, care and even love. While these systems are often framed as solutions to loneliness or social isolation, the conversation pushes beyond this narrative to examine the political, economic and ethical dimensions that underpin them.

Moderator:

• Dr Zahra Stardust

Speakers:

• Micaela Mantegna
• Dianela Gahn

This is a RightsCon session hosted by Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM), in collaboration with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), following the cancellation of RightsCon 2026.

During a time of authoritarianism, digital surveillance, and increasing criminalisation, this webinar explores how social media shadowbanning and deplatforming affect sexual health educators, sex workers, and other marginalised communities.By sharing both their experiences of censorship and their strategies of resistance, the speakers seek to prompt ongoing conversations across sectors, regions and communities about how to safeguard sexual health and sexual rights online.

Moderator:

• Dr Zahra Stardust: Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow investigating how digital platforms can better protect sexual and reproductive rights online. Co-Chair of the World Association for Sexual Health’s Sexual Rights Committee and sits on the World Health Organisation’s Sexual Health and Wellbeing Advisory Group. Dr Zahra Stardust is also a member of SRHM's Editorial and Advisory Board.

Speakers: 

• Kali Sudhra: Executive Director at The European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance 
• Mar Diez: Cybersecurity & Privacy Legal Counsel and a digital rights advocate. Co-founder of Espacio Seguro LGBTQIA+ Burgos
• Maria Prendeville: Content marketing and email marketer for femtech, sex-positive and women's health brands
• Martha Dimitratou: Founder and Executive Director of Repro Uncensored

Read more on the blog at: https://www.srhm.org/news/sx-in-the-shadows-of-big-tech/

In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, Eszter Kismődi and Neil Datta, Executive Director and founder of the European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF), take a deep dive into the evolving landscape of anti-gender and anti-rights movements, drawing on new analysis from the European Parliamentary Forum (EPF).

What emerges is a picture of a highly coordinated, well-funded and increasingly sophisticated ecosystem that operates across multiple domains, reshaping not only sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), but also wider democratic systems.Read more at srhm.org.

Read the full report, 'The Next Wave: How Religious Extremism Is Regaining Power' here: https://www.epfweb.org/node/1147

In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, Eszter Kismődi is joined by Sarah Malaba, Co-CEO of Tiko, to explore how smarter, more equitable health financing can transform the lives of adolescent girls across Sub-Saharan Africa, and why this is fundamentally a question of economic justice.

At the centre of the discussion is the “triple threat” of unintended pregnancy, new HIV infections, and sexual violence, three interconnected challenges that not only shape health outcomes but also systematically limit girls’ educational attainment, economic participation and future earning potential. When these risks go unaddressed, they reinforce cycles of poverty and inequality, undermining both individual rights and broader economic development.

Drawing on insights from recent global and regional convenings, including the World Health Summit and the RHNK conference, the episode calls for a shift away from high-level commitments towards practical, adequately funded, girl-centred solutions. It highlights the urgent need for governments to move beyond donor dependency and prioritise domestic investment in adolescent girls as a distinct and critical population.

The conversation unpacks the concept of the “girl dividend”, emphasising that it cannot be realised without redistributive policies, sustained public investment, and accountability for delivering integrated, stigma-free services. Investing in girls is not only about improving health outcomes, it is about enabling girls to stay in school, access decent work, exercise bodily autonomy, and participate fully in economic and social life.

With a strong emphasis on youth participation, real-time data, and multi-sectoral approaches, this episode offers a clear call to action: to centre adolescent girls in policy design and financing decisions, and to recognise that achieving sexual and reproductive health and rights is inseparable from advancing economic justice.

A recent Court of Appeal decision in Kenya has generated concern among healthcare providers, reproductive justice advocates and human rights movements in Kenya and beyond. The ruling overturned elements of a landmark High Court decision and reinstated criminal proceedings involving a young woman and a healthcare provider after emergency post-abortion care was sought.

In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, Eszter Kismodi is joined by Martin Onyango, Associate Director for Legal Strategies at the Center for Reproductive Rights; Ruth Mumbi, Human Rights Defender and Executive Director of Women Collective Kenya; and Nelly Munyasia, Executive Director of Reproductive Health Network Kenya.

Together they unpack the legal, public health and human rights dimensions of the ruling and discuss:

• What the Court of Appeal decided and why it matters
• The distinction between abortion and post-abortion care under Kenyan law
• How legal uncertainty and criminalization affect healthcare provision
• The disproportionate impact on women and girls in marginalized communities
• The role of misinformation, stigma and anti-rights narratives
• Legal and movement strategies as advocates prepare for a Supreme Court appeal

The conversation also places the case in a wider global context, exploring ongoing struggles around sexual and reproductive justice, bodily autonomy and access to rights-based healthcare.