|Sexual & Reproductive Health & Rights: The Essential Package of
Policies and Programs| Universal access to reproductive health
is vital to the effective implementation of population, health
and development policies and to the success of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). This IWHC brief describes in practical
terms the justification for and components of the essential
policy and program package. At the 1994 International Conference
on Population and Development (ICPD), nations agreed on the need
to secure universal access to reproductive health, protect
reproductive rights, and promote gender equality and endorsed an
essential policy and program package to prevent unwanted
pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and deaths
due to childbirth and unsafe abortion. The Sexual and
reproductive health and rights essential policy package requires
leadership across sectors at the highest levels of government
and the collaboration of international development partners,
professional associations, an