SEMA Reproductive Health seeks to drive equitable, affordable, and predictable supply of high-quality sexual and reproductive health products, advance gender equality

Today, on the sidelines of the Generation Equality Forum – a major global inflection point for gender equality – country policymakers, donors, and global health organizations announced a new initiative to accelerate progress on ensuring access to a comprehensive range of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) products. Despite significant improvements in the last decade, essential SRH health tools remain out of reach for millions of people worldwide, and health system disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic threaten to widen the gap.

Shaping Equitable Market Access for Reproductive Health, known as SEMA Reproductive Health – will support countries in overcoming some of the biggest barriers in SRH markets to ensure people everywhere can access the products they want and need to control their health and futures. Donors have committed over USD$50 million to SEMA to date, and the partnership aims to raise at least $50 million for core funding over the next five years.

“When women and girls lack access to SRH products – like contraceptives and medicines to manage pregnancy-related complications – whole communities suffer,” said Dr. Kayode Afolabi, Director and Head of the Reproductive Health Division at Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health. “Healthy SRH markets are essential to strong health systems, and we look forward to collaborating with SEMA Reproductive Health to make markets work better for women and girls.”

SEMA will bring together a diverse set of partners to:

• Proactively monitor SRH market health by aggregating datasets and building a holistic, unified view of user demand and current market supply across regions and sectors.
• Identify market barriers across geographies and co-design strategic solutions, tapping the unique strengths of existing networks and organizations in-country and globally.
• Support countries and global partners to finance and implement interventions by helping governments mobilize domestic funding, crowding in new players, and coordinating global investments to maximize impact

“The right to family planning cannot be realized without access to services and supplies,” said Mande Limbu, FP2030 Director of Global Initiatives. “FP2030 recognizes the importance of partnership in increasing family planning use. SEMA Reproductive Health demonstrates the power of partnerships between national and global actors to make rights-based family planning a reality for even more women.”

Media Contacts:

Mary Robbins, Senior Director of Communications, Global Health Strategies, Email: mrobbins@globalhealthstrategies.com, Phone: +1 301-996-9332

Rebecca Crawford Muñoz, Director of Communications, Global Health Strategies, Email: rcrawfordmunoz@globalhealthstrategies.com, Phone: +1 626-429-6614