The ‘Parliamentarians for the 2030 Agenda’ see to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, and Belgium’s role therein. During a webinar on September 29th the parliamentarians looked at where we are 5 years into the 2030 Agenda and enquired into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its realisation. 

​Prof. Dr. Olivier Degomme, Director of the International Centre for Reproductive Health (ICRH-Ghent University) took stock of the consequences of the pandemic on SDG3, ‘good health and well-being for all’. He showed the worldwide measurements have serious consequence for the access to contraceptives, family planning services and maternal health. Recent research of the WHO indicated that 90% of all countries reported interruptions of essential health services, and 68% reported interruptions of family planning services. 

Guttmacher’s recently published 2019 “Adding it Up” report captures the shortages in sexual and reproductive health services in low and middle income countries (LMIC). The research institute calculated what it would take to bridge the gap.

The effects of the current health crisis are far-reaching and are still unwinding. But it is clear that the most marginalised will be the hardest hit. Reproductive freedom is not a reality for many women across the globe. For too many women, access to quality family planning still depends on where they live and how much money they make.

To raise awareness of the unmet need for family planning, 12 Belgian members of parliament of 9 different political parties revealed the size of their families to the Belgian public. They did so in a joint video message, in which they explained they were free to decide on the size of their family, while 214 million women in the Global South who want to avoid or postpone a pregnancy, cannot do so, because they lack access to contraceptives. 

The crisis affects every country, every individual person, but we still need to guarantee a global approach. More than ever, this crisis demonstrates how our lives are interconnected. In other words, a solidary, joint response will be necessary.

Sensoa International works with other organisations, including umbrella organisation IPPF, Belgian health and development organisations to steer the policy of Belgium, other EU member states and partner countries. We inform policymakers and advocate to safeguard sexual and reproductive rights, also in times of Covid-19.

The weakness of healthcare structures in developing countries will now become painfully clear and be a major threat to the global spread of the virus. Together with its partners, Sensoa International is therefore focusing on the importance of strengthening health systems, ensuring the continuity of care, and the promotion of universal healthcare coverage, which should include sexual and reproductive health services and family planning.  

Sensoa International advocates to keep up and increase the necessary financial support. Existing official development assistance (ODA) should not be diverted to tackle the current crisis, as this creates new problems. Instead, new funds should be set up to counter the spread of Covid-19 and to address the large-scale side effects of the approach in a spirit of solidarity.

Measures to deal with the pandemic should not result in restrictions of human rights, democracy and the critical role of civil society and media. Jointly with our civil society partners in Belgium and abroad, we are watching and alerting policy makers when human rights, and particularly sexual and reproductive rights are at risk.  

Every country, both in the global south and north, will have a different answer to this. In general, women and girls will face significant restrictions in safe and timely access to essential sexual and reproductive health services, in particular timely abortion care, post-abortion care and emergency anticonception. Such restrictions disproportionately affect persons belonging to marginalised groups, including women living in poverty, women with disabilities, women belonging to ethnocultural minorities (e.g. Roma women), migrants, stateless women, adolescents and women at risk of domestic and sexual violence.

Quarantine affects the access to contraceptives for women worldwide:

Contraceptives are threatening to become scarcer and scarcer. This is due to different factors. For example, large NGOs as well as contraceptive manufacturers warn that the supply chains of various contraceptive products are severely disrupted. China, the world's second-largest exporter of pharmaceuticals, has closed several drug production plants, which in turn has caused delays in Indian plants producing generic drugs, including anticonception. 

The demand for long-term contraceptives (such as the coil or the implant) will  increase. For example, after Trump took office as president of the US, the demand for coils increased as women feared that access to other contraception would become more difficult. 

As governments around the world are severely restricting the mobility of their citizens, the use of contraceptives will also decline. Particularly women who depend on public transport to travel, or who are currently without income, may find it difficult to get anticonception prescriptions and buy anticonception. What's more, family planning clinics might be temporarily closed.

​The reduced access to contraceptives comes on top of the already existing needs of women. 214 million women in the Global South who want to use contraceptives already had no access to it before the crisis. Their numbers are increasing. 

All over the world, we see sudden and drastic restrictions on democratic freedoms. Our movements are monitored increasingly. Public meetings are prohibited; the state of emergency is announced; legislative debates are postponed and, in certain countries, the operation of parliaments is suspended or their oversight role is severely curtailed in favour of the executive branch. All over the world, governments are ramping up digital surveillance. In Europe for example, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán granted himself dictatorial powers to ignore laws indefinitely and to suspend elections and referendums. In Israel, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an emergency decree preventing the parliament from meeting, in what newspaper Haaretz called a 'corona-coup'. Experts are already pointing to the increasing pressure on the sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls everywhere in the world. 

Georges Dallemagne, Belgian MP and member of the Parliamentarians for the 2030 Agenda visited the Philippines and learned about the country's outstanding challenges in living up to the needs of its young population. 
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The Philippines counts as many as 104 million people and is the 13th most populated country in the world. The country has seen an unprecedented growth of its population, in part due to the lack of access to family planning. The Philippines’ ultraconservative catholic church forbade access to contraception and while its influence is said to be slowly lessening, it is still having a huge impact on the family planning decisions of citizens. Only 40% of all young women have access to contraceptives and one in 10 girls has their first child before the age of 10.

The European Council elected Belgian prime minister Charles Michel as President of the European Council. The president presides over and drives forward the work of the European Council and is the European Union’s principal representative on the world stage. He is elected for the period from 1 December 2019 until 31 May 2022. But who is Charles Michel and what is his track record on SRHR and gender equality?