Why It Matters
In 2018, 136 million people needed humanitarian assistance and protection. It was estimated that 34 million were women of reproductive age and five million were pregnant. Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) is a core component of primary health care package that saves lives and upholds human dignity.
25 in 2020
In 1995, following the ground-breaking International Conference on Population Development (ICPD) in Cairo more than 50 governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organizations committed to strengthening reproductive health services for refugee populations, subsequently forming the Inter-Agency Working Group (IAWG) on Reproductive Health in Crises.
Throughout the past 25 years, IAWG continues to work towards expanding and strengthening advocacy of and access to quality sexual and reproductive health services for people living in crisis and humanitarian settings.
Milestones & Highlights
Over the past 25 years, IAWG has worked to make sexual and reproductive health (SRH) a part of the life-saving, essential health services provided in humanitarian settings.
1995
Founded at a time when sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in humanitarian settings was virtually non-existent, IAWG worked together to ensure that SRH is consistently integrated into humanitarian response from the earliest days of an emergency throughout response and recovery.
1996
IAWG developed and piloted the Inter-Agency Field Manual for Reproductive Health in Refugee Settings. It was finalized in 1999 and later renamed the Inter-Agency Field Manual for Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings.
The Field Manual was updated in 2010 and most recently in 2018. This Field Manual has served as the authoritative guidance on sexual and reproductive health in crises for nearly 25 years.
IAWG simultaneously developed the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH), a priority set of life-saving services and activities that must be implemented in the earliest days of an emergency, as well as the Inter-agency Emergency Reproductive Health Kits, prepackaged kits of supplies necessary to implement the MISP, which are managed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
2002-2004 & 2012-2014
IAWG conducted global evaluations of SRH in humanitarian settings, initially from 2002-2004 and later from 2012-2014, to document progress, challenges, and gaps to best guide funding, policy, and programming decisions.
2020
Since its founding, IAWG has held regular general membership meetings where our diverse community comes together to share and learn from each other. Our next meeting will be held December 2020 in Thailand with the theme Bridging the Divide: Operationalizing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the Nexus.