Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to prioritise marginalised people and communities in regard to sexual and reproductive health and rights; and what plans they have to discuss this matter at the 2019 Nairobi Summit on the International Conference on Population and Development.

The Secretary of State recently announced new UK efforts to end preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children by 2030. The UK is committed to achieving universal health coverage and to achieve our goals, we must reach the most marginalised. Without sexual and reproductive health and rights, we cannot achieve universal health coverage.

Our programmes are reaching the most marginalised. For example, the Women’s Integrated Sexual Health reproductive health programme uses innovative ways to identify and reach the poorest and most marginalised women with essential services across 27 countries. Our support to the Robert Carr Fund, Amplify Change and the Safe Abortion Action Fund all support grassroots organisations to campaign for and access their sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The Nairobi Summit on International Conference on Population and Development 25 is an opportunity for the global community to re-state the importance of sexual and reproductive health and rights including for marginalised people and communities. The UK will make our ongoing commitment clear, including our efforts on challenging issues such as female genital mutilation, child marriage and unsafe abortion in the most marginalised and hard to reach communities.