Establishment of a SRH Task Team under the Global Health Cluster

In December 2022 the formal establishment of a sexual and reproductive health (SRH) Task Team as part of the World Health Organization’s Global Health Cluster (GHC) was approved by the GHC’s Strategic Advisory Group (SAG).

The SRH Task team is co-chaired by UNFPA and International Rescue Committee (IRC) and has been joined by strong SRH colleagues from a number of GHC partners.

This initiative emerged from discussions with IAWG members and the secretariat in September 2020. IAWG members supported UNFPA’s leadership in the GHC to strengthen attention to and visibility of SRH needs and services throughout a humanitarian response.

The SRH Task Team will serve as a formal entity within the GHC to ensure SRH priorities are systematically addressed in all phases of humanitarian response and SRH coordination is consistently included in cluster coordination at both the global and country levels.

The SRH Task Team’s objectives are to:

1. Strengthen, systematise, and standardise SRH coordination at country level.
2. Contribute to the reduction in maternal and newborn mortality in humanitarian settings by supporting country clusters to implement the MISP from the onset of emergencies, through advocacy, capacity strengthening, and availability of SRH supplies.
3. Contribute to the prevention of unwanted pregnancies in humanitarian settings by enabling country clusters to ensure information and services for comprehensive contraception and safe abortion care (to the full extent of the law) are available through advocacy, capacity strengthening, and availability of supplies.
4. Develop and systematise effective linkages between SRH and GBV by strengthening coordination with Protection / GBV at all levels, including by ensuring quality Clinical Management of Rape and Intimate Partner Violence (CMR-IPV) services.

The SRH Task Team’s work plan was submitted to the SAG for approval. The Terms of Reference (TOR) of the Task Team are already approved.

The SRH Task Team co-chairs and IAWG secretariat and sub-Working Groups will collaborate to harness the collective SRH knowledge and resources among its diverse membership to meet the established objectives. The Task Team will leverage this existing SRH in emergencies global expertise to support SRH programming at the country level.