Climate change threat to women’s sexual reproductive health rights
Published On September 5, 2022 » 5984 Views» By Times Reporter » Features
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By MUSONDA MANGILASHI-
Climate change and gender equality are inextricably linked, and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) is an essential element of gender equality.
Despite increasing recognition that climate action must be gender responsive, to date, only limited attention has been paid to the linkages between climate change and SRHR, which comprises issues such as access to contraceptives, maternal and newborn health and Gender Based Violence (GBV).
Barriers to the realisation of SRHR inhibit progress toward gender equality and may impede climate action.
At the same time, the impact of climate change may negatively affect SRHR, for example, through interruptions in sexual and reproductive health services caused by extreme weather events.
This was the fate of a 20-year old woman of Ndola’s Chipulukusu Township who was among families that were displaced by the collapsing of their houses due to floods experienced last year.
This demonstrates the challenges associated with quality access to SRHR.
Annie Kabamba, a mother of one, said the floods that affected the area for close to two weeks could not enable her to access SRHR services such as contraceptives because the area was flooded.
Ms Kabamba says because she could not access health facilities for SRHR services, she ended up conceiving, something she said she could have prevented if the area was not affected by floods.
Ms Kabamba is among many women, especially in flood prone areas in Zambia, who have been affected by the impact of climate change.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Rachael Mwape of the same township.
Women, especially in vulnerable areas, lack access to medical care, services, privacy, security and safety as well as hygiene products such as sanitary towels and contraceptives.
Research has shown that climate change and gender are linked where women are more at risk among the vulnerable groups to the adverse effects of climate change.
People, especially vulnerable groups such as poor, elderly, women and minorities are the worst sufferers from the adverse effects of climate change.
According to the National Climate Change Policy (2016), climate change affects men, women, youth, children and physically challenged persons in different ways.
According to research, the issue of the impact of climate change on health, specifically women’s SRHR, is being ignored in the national policy of many developing countries.
Most often it is the women and girls who bear the heavy consequences of climate change because they are more exposed to vulnerabilities that put them at greater risk than men and boys.
During disasters, health services including sexual and reproductive health services are often limited and at times not available, such that women often lack medical support.
In addition, the ability of the women and girl to manage their menstruation with dignity is impaired when there is a lack of clean water and menstrual products.
Climate change is a major multiplier of existing health vulnerabilities and gender inequalities in Africa.
In spite of increasing recognition that climate action must be gender responsive, the linkages between climate change and SRHR has received little attention.
The impact of climate change have negatively affected SRHR and this has been done through interruptions in sexual and reproductive health services caused by changes in weather events.
Development Analysts Global Climate Change and Sustainability specialist Able Musumali is of the view that Zambia should integrate climate change with sexual and reproductive health as a human right approach.
Mr Musumali said Zambia should come up with climate adaptation measures that do not alienate health services, including sexual and reproductive health services.
He said the country needs to begin to identify and address how interconnected climate change issues and the health and rights of girls and women are.
Mr Musumali said for the marginalized and vulnerable groups, as well as those with disabilities, the impact of climate change worsens their already existing challenges and vulnerabilities.
“In turn, gender, sexuality, age, wealth, and race are all determining factors in the vulnerability to climate change.
While growing evidence proves that climate change issues are not gender neutral, there remain considerable gaps in related gender-disaggregated data and gender analyses in this space.
More specifically, the linkages between climate change and SRHR have received little attention to-date,” he said.
Mr Musumali noted that recognizing these links is key to creating an effective adaptive response to climate change, while also improving gender equality and access to SRHR services.
He said as global temperatures rise, extreme weather events like floods, droughts, and heat waves particularly threaten the health and rights of girls and women hence the need to give more attention to the effect of climate change on SRHR.
Of significance is the fact that women and children are most vulnerable to health impacts given their traditional roles in the society.
Further, climate change adversely affects vulnerable groups whose livelihoods largely depend on natural resources, such as forestry and water.
Gender equality, SRHR and climate change issues are inextricably linked.
Climate change risks increasing social, including gender, inequalities.
Realising SRHR contributes to reducing inequalities and increases individuals and communities’ resilience to climate change to help ensure no one is left behind as climate impacts intensify.
Climate change is a major threat to the vision of human-centered sustainable development as outlined in the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action and reinforced by the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25.

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