Pioneering Solutions: Climate Finance, Gender Equity, and Sexual and Reproductive Health Services – New Security Beat

A warming world and its impact on health, gender, and climate finance

This article is adapted from “Pioneering Solutions: Climate Finance, Gender Equity, and Sexual and Reproductive Health Services”

Introduction

A warming world is leading to new challenges for communities and countries around the globe. The significant impacts of climate change on global health, and on women and girls, are well-documented. Yet despite the evidence, funding for climate responses that focus on health or gender remains relatively low. In the rare instances where climate finance provides funds to improve health services, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services—which are critical to women’s full participation in society and decision-making—are largely neglected.

The Policy Brief: Pioneering Solutions

In a new policy brief, “Pioneering Solutions: Climate Finance, Gender Equity, and Sexual and Reproductive Health Services” the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program and Maternal Health Initiative explore the relationships between climate finance, gender equality, and sexual and reproductive health, and identify opportunities for including SRH services in climate financing mechanisms and projects.

Pioneering Solutions: Clima… by The Wilson Center

The Impact on Women and Girls

Women and girls face heightened threats to their health, safety, and livelihoods as a result of climate change. For example, the impacts of climate change on agriculture and water availability disproportionately hurt women. Globally, women and girls are responsible for fetching up to 80% of the water for households who lack direct access to water sources. Women comprise about 43% of the agricultural labor force in developing countries, and up to 80% in some African countries.

Challenges in Access to Health Services

During extreme weather events such as flooding, storms, or wildfires, damage to health infrastructure can leave women without access to adequate maternal and reproductive health services. For example, Typhoon Haiyan limited access to antenatal care in the Philippines, while flooding in Bangladesh reduced the availability of contraceptives. Women’s poor maternal health outcomes reached an all-time high during recent floods in Pakistan, and a global study in Nature in 2024 found links between flood exposure and pregnancy loss.

The Role of SRH Services in Climate Resilience

In the face of these challenges, evidence suggests that providing SRH services can boost climate change resilience for women, their families, and their communities. In western Tanzania, for instance, the Tuungane Project works to advance the health of communities, forests, and fisheries. Since it was launched in 2012, the project has responded to 150,000 requests for reproductive health services and has reduced maternal and neonatal deaths by upgrading health clinics. A 2018 study of the project found a strong positive correlation between access to family planning, maternal and child health care, and most aspects of climate resilience.

The Need for Integration in Climate Financing

Despite these links, major climate adaptation funds do not yet fund SRH-specific programming. Awareness of the connections between climate, gender, and health is undoubtedly growing—adaptation finance portfolios are increasingly incorporating these links, and 60 percent of National Adaptation Plans now mention aspects of SRH. But this awareness has yet to translate into SRH-specific services being meaningfully integrated into projects seeking financing from the major adaptation funds. Future climate funding could be made more impactful by bridging the gap between gender equity, sexual and reproductive health services, and climate resilience.

Read the full policy brief.

Conclusion

“Pioneering Solutions: Climate Finance, Gender Equity, and Sexual and Reproductive Health Services” was made possible through the generous support of the Population Institute.

Sources:

• Arrow
• Environmental Challenges Journal
• Nature Communications
• PLOS Currents
• Science Direct
• Women Deliver

Photo credit:

Rural woman picking tea leaves—Bangladesh, June 2022, courtesy of Jahidul-hasan / Shutterstock.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

   • Target 3.7: By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programs.
   • Indicator: Availability and accessibility of sexual and reproductive health services.

2. SDG 5: Gender Equality

   • Target 5.6: Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences.
   • Indicator: Proportion of women of reproductive age who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods.

3. SDG 13: Climate Action

   • Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
   • Indicator: Number of deaths, missing persons, and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population.

Analysis

The article highlights the connections between climate finance, gender equity, and sexual and reproductive health services. Based on the content, the following SDGs, targets, and indicators can be identified:

1. SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

The article emphasizes the importance of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services for women’s full participation in society and decision-making. It mentions that funding for climate responses that focus on health or gender remains relatively low, and SRH services are largely neglected. This aligns with SDG 3, which aims to ensure good health and well-being for all, including access to sexual and reproductive health-care services.

2. SDG 5: Gender Equality

The article highlights the disproportionate impacts of climate change on women and girls, particularly in terms of agriculture and water availability. It mentions that women and girls are responsible for fetching up to 80% of water for households without direct access to water sources, and they comprise a significant portion of the agricultural labor force. This relates to SDG 5, which focuses on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.

3. SDG 13: Climate Action

The article discusses the impacts of climate change on health infrastructure, particularly during extreme weather events. It mentions examples where access to maternal and reproductive health services was limited due to climate-related disasters. This aligns with SDG 13, which aims to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Based on the content of the article, the specific targets and indicators that can be identified are:

Target 3.7: By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programs.

The article emphasizes the need for funding and support for sexual and reproductive health services, particularly in the context of climate change. It highlights the positive correlation between access to family planning and maternal and child health care, as well as climate resilience. This target focuses on ensuring universal access to SRH services and integrating reproductive health into national strategies and programs.

Target 5.6: Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences.

The article emphasizes the importance of gender equity and the impacts of climate change on women and girls. It mentions the need for funding and support for SRH services to address the specific challenges faced by women and girls in the context of climate change. This target focuses on ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.

Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.

The article discusses the impacts of climate change on health infrastructure and the need to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity. It mentions examples where climate-related disasters have limited access to maternal and reproductive health services. This target focuses on strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters.

Based on the content of the article, the following indicators can be identified:

Indicator: Availability and accessibility of sexual and reproductive health services.

The article highlights the neglect of sexual and reproductive health services in climate finance and the need for improved funding and support. This indicator measures the availability and accessibility of SRH services, which is crucial for achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services.

Indicator: Proportion of women of reproductive age who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods.

The article emphasizes the positive correlation between access to family planning and maternal and child health care, as well as climate resilience. This indicator measures the proportion of women of reproductive age who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods, which is essential for ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.

Indicator: Number of deaths, missing persons, and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population.

The article discusses the impacts of climate-related disasters on health infrastructure and the limited access to maternal and reproductive health services during extreme weather events. This indicator measures the number of deaths, missing persons, and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population, which is relevant for assessing the impacts of climate change on health and well-being.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: newsecuritybeat.org