Infothek

As part of the CoTSIS study (Cognitive testing of a survey instrument to assess sexual practices, behaviours, and health-related outcomes, 2021 to 2022), the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted research in 19 countries to develop a short and generally accessible survey instrument to assess sexual health practices and behaviours. The aim was to achieve better comparability of studies in this field with a ‘global standard instrument’.

The resulting SHAPE questionnaire (Sexual Health Assessment of Practices and Experiences) contains a series of questions on the above-mentioned topics that are generally relevant and understandable. The questionnaire is a combination of modules that can be adapted to regional and cultural conditions. The aim is to improve the ability of researchers to collect and compare relevant data on sexual health practices in different countries. The 64-page publication contains information on the development of the modules as well as suggestions for customisation and implementation.

Questionnaire:
https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/375232/9789240085909-eng.pdf?sequence=1 

CoTSIS study: 
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-021-01301-w 

This technical brief provides an overview of the landscape surrounding the use of AI in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), and highlights the related risks, implications and policy considerations. Considering the rapidly evolving nature of AI, this brief seeks to provide clarity in understanding how AI is being applied in SRHR and flag key issues to ensure AI is used effectively, inclusively, sustainably and with due consideration for human rights. This document targets implementers, policy-makers, technology developers, funding agencies and researchers working at the intersection of AI and SRHR and aims to facilitate joint understanding among these stakeholders.

More information:
World Health Organization (Hg.) 2024: The role of artificial intelligence in sexual and reproductive health and rights: technical brief
ISBN 978-92-4-009070-5 (electronic version)
ISBN 978-92-4-009071-2 (print version)

Download:
https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/376294/9789240090705-eng.pdf?sequence=1 

ONE stands for collaboration and networking; EDU stands for education for all. Lynn Huber, anthropologist and midwife, and Patricia Frei, filmmaker and midwife, founded ONEDU as an online educational platform to empower people in 2019. The website contains free video courses on birth preparation for midwives (Midwife Refugee Kit) and for migrant women (Migrant Birth Kit). This course is available in 16 languages.

Contact:
https://de.onedu.org/ 

The Turkish-language educational website “Tabu Kamu” provides practical information about sexuality, sexual health and relationships. The aim is to enable people to make healthy decisions about their bodies, sexuality and relationships in a culturally sensitive manner. On the website the different internal and external voices that young people hear when it comes to sexual questions are represented in cartoon characters: "Tabu" stands for customs and traditions, "Emu" for feelings, "Fufu" for passion, "Ku” represents logic, “Ibu” the influence of peers, and “Kamu” public gossip. The website recommends consciously listening to the different voices, weighing them up and only then making your own decision. A team of 26 people works on the website, most of whom are volunteers.

Contact:
http://www.tabukamu.com/ 

How do women decide to have a child and what influences do society, institutions, NGOs etc. have on this decision? Access to reproductive healthcare and reproductive technologies becomes geopolitical when states, international organisations or transnational corporations assign different values to bodies to reproduce. By doing so, they govern the production of the future national body. This project argues that while in the past the territorial management of populations was explicitly framed as population politics, in the present the governance of reproduction takes place more implicitly through regimes of healthcare, migration and sexual politics. Policies in these regimes continue to manage populations in a territorial fashion, but they do not officially pursue population control. Our project seeks to make these largely unnoticed population politics more explicit.

More information:
https://reproductivegeopolitics.ch/ 

Contact:
mLAB
Institute of Geography
Universität Bern
Hallerstrasse 12
3012 Bern
SWITZERLAND
Unit for Social and Cultural Geography
carolin.schurr(at)unibe.ch 

On 18 February 2024 the EMIS study (European Men-who-have-sex-with-men and Trans People Internet Survey) was launched for the third time in 50 European countries. The survey on health and well-being, which is being conducted by Maastricht University, the Robert Koch Institute and Deutsche Aidshilfe (DAH), is aimed at both gay and bisexual men and, for the first time, specifically at trans women and non-binary people who have sex with men.

The online questionnaire was available in 35 languages and open until mid-April 2024. The first results of the data analysis are expected by the end of the year.

More information: 
https://www.emis-project.eu/ 

Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is central to children and young people’s well-being, equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy and responsible choices in their lives. How has school-based sexuality education developed internationally and what cultural, social and political factors promote the use of sexuality education? A UNESCO report provides an overview of the status of school-based sexuality education worldwide. It aims to help ensure that all students have age-appropriate access to quality sexuality education throughout their school years.

More information:
UNESCO (2021). The journey towards comprehensive sexuality education. Global status report. Published in 2021 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Available: https://doi.org/10.54675/NFEK1277 

Access to contraception should be a key concern of governments in empowering citizens to plan their families and lives. Yet the Contraception Atlas – a map that has rated 46 countries throughout geographical Europe on access to modern contraception since 2017 – continues to reveal a very uneven picture across Europe and a widening divide between Eastern and Western Europe.

The findings show that for many European countries ensuring that people have choice over their reproductive lives is not a priority. Now in its fourth edition, the Atlas tracks government policies on access to contraceptive supplies, family planning counselling and online information.

More information:
https://www.epfweb.org/node/89 

The objective of this review that began in 2022 is to summarize the nature and focus of research that has been conducted into patients’ and health care providers’ perspectives of sexual and reproductive health access for people with disability. The review will be conducted in accordance with JBI methodology (JBI is a global organisation promoting and supporting evidence-based decisions that improve health and health service delivery; jbi.global/about-jbi). A search strategy has been developed for MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL and gray literature. After de-duplication, results will be independently screened against the inclusion criteria by 2 reviewers. There will be no geographical limitations, but non-English-language publications will be excluded. Only literature published after the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) came into effect will be included. Charting tools will be used for data extraction, and results will be presented in descriptive, diagrammatic and tabular formats.

More Information:
https://journals.lww.com/jbisrir/fulltext/2023/02000/patients__and_health_care_providers__perspectives.11.aspx 

A survey of 1,002 young people aged 16-17 in England carried out by Censuswide between 2 and 13 December 2022, and commissioned by the Sex Education Forum, reveals broken promises in relationships and sex education, which leave young people unprepared for modern challenges.

Three years after the Government introduced statutory RSE (Relationships and Sex Education), only 40 % of young people rate their lessons as ‘good’ or ‘very good’. Meanwhile, nearly one in five (18 %) still say their in-school RSE is bad or very bad. Students report that they do not learn enough about today’s most pressing issues, including pornography (58 %), LGBTQ+-relevant information (54 %), and healthy relationships (54 %). While 44 % of respondents agreed that what they learned in RSE had helped them and 42 % said the content felt relevant to them, over a quarter still felt lessons were neither relevant (26 %) nor helpful (27 %).

More information:
https://www.sexeducationforum.org.uk/resources/evidence/young-peoples-rse-poll-2022 

The National Sexual Health Strategy (Stratégie Nationale de Santé Sexuelle, SNSS) pursues a comprehensive and positive approach to improving sexual and reproductive health in France. The aim of the SNSS is to integrate sexual and reproductive health into general health policy. Priorities are promoting lifelong health and prevention in all areas of life; tackling social and regional inequalities in access to health care; and improving the quality of healthcare.

More information:
https://sante.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/feuille_de_route_sante_sexuelle_2021-2024_16122021_eng-gb_final.pdf 

In order to obtain a clear picture of the extent and development of cases of sexual harassment and sexual violence in the Netherlands, quantitative studies are regularly carried out. These are also intended to provide information about the effectiveness of prevention policies. The PHGSG (Prevalentiemonitor Huiselijk Geweld en Seksueel Grensoverschrijdend gedrag) was held for the first time in 2020 and again in 2022. 24,000 people over the age of 16 were surveyed using an online questionnaire. The study focuses on offline/online sexual intimidation, physical sexual violence and sexual transgression.

More information:
https://longreads.cbs.nl/phgsg-2022/samenvatting/ 

Children and young people at German schools largely rate their health as good. However, almost all of them do not exercise enough and the health situation very much depends on wealth, age and gender. These are some of the results of the nationwide HBSC study (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children), which was presented in March 2024.

The HBSC study is an international study involving 51 countries and was developed in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). Representative surveys are conducted in schools every four years. The current data for Germany was collected by a research association led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University Medical Center Halle.

The scientists investigated questions relating to physical activity, bullying, cyberbullying, mental well-being, health literacy and health inequalities. 6,475 students aged 11 to 15 from all over Germany took part in the most recent survey conducted in 2022. The results were published in the Journal of Health Monitoring.

More information:
https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/Gesundheitsmonitoring/JoHM/2024/JHealthMonit_Inhalt_24_1.html 

A multidisciplinary team of microbiologists, bioinformaticians, bioengineers, gynaecologists and general practitioners in Belgium (University of Antwerp) is researching the female microbiome within the framework of the “Isala” project (ongoing since 2019). A cooperation with sister institutes in Peru and Switzerland is planned. 4,684 women provided their personal information through extensive questionnaires and more than 3,300 women donated vaginal swabs. Using these data and swabs, the vaginal microbiome of women in Flanders was mapped and influencing factors were identified. Microbiome research can help develop alternative strategies for the use of antibiotics. The role of the microbiome in infections, urinary tract infections, sexually transmitted diseases, fertility and healthy pregnancy will also be the subject of this research.

More information:
https://isala.be/en/