Distinguished Delegates:

We welcome the prioritization of UHC and financing the right to health. It is critical this commitment includes women, girls, and gender-diverse people, whose health needs are often deprioritized. Despite global commitments, gender inequalities and the denial of SRHR persist. Women and girls continue to die from preventable pregnancy and childbirth complications, face malnutrition, and lack access to essential SRH services. Discriminatory laws and third party authorization requirements block access to contraception, safe abortion, and comprehensive sexuality education, particularly among adolescent girls and people living with disabilities. We urge Member States to:
Ensure access to gender-transformative, age-responsive, and disability-inclusive SRHR and nutrition services in primary health care across the lifecourse; Recognize adolescent girls as rights-holders and provide access to confidential, youth-friendly SRH services; Center the leadership of women, girls, and gender-diverse people in designing, financing, and monitoring health systems; Invest in a gender-equitable health workforce with decent work, leadership opportunities, and protection from violence and harassment; Collect and analyze disaggregated data on health access and outcomes, to inform gender-responsive UHC policies; Focus on preventative care, including nutrition, skilled lactation care, water, sanitation, hygiene, and SRH needs across the life course; Invest in a feminist universal social protection system, eliminate financial and legal barriers and ensure all services are accessible and free at the point of use. UHC cannot be achieved without gender equality, nor can health equity be realized without the full inclusion of SRHR.