Talk:Sexual and reproductive health

(Redirected from Talk:Reproductive health)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment edit

  This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Jaytro6560.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 09:05, 17 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment edit

  This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 3 September 2018 and 3 December 2018. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Tyto-sapien.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 09:05, 17 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

Name change to Sexual and Reproductive Health edit

Would it be appropriate to rename the title of this page from Reproductive Health to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)? SRH is the prefered term used in the health policy sector, evidenced by a number of organizations working in the field:

World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/
Millennium Development Goals: http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/reports/srh_main.htm
UNAIDS: http://www.unaids.org/en/PolicyAndPractice/SexualAndReproductiveHealth/default.asp
UNFPA: http://www.unfpa.org/hiv/linking.htm
Guttmacher Institute: http://www.guttmacher.org/
German Foundation for World Population: http://www.dsw-online.de/en/programmes/youth_to_youth_initiative.shtml

Changing the name would more accurately reflect the meaning of the term and its use.Fijnlijn (talk) 09:52, 3 February 2009 (UTC)Reply

A few observations
  • Sexual and reproductive health already redirects to this article.
  • Google search trends shows very few searches for "Sexual and reproductive health" far more for either Sexual health or reproductive health.
  • Google search results:
    • "sexual health" yields 17,500,000 pages.
    • "reproductive health" yields 7,620,000 pages.
    • "reproductive health" -"sexual and reproductive health" yields 5,180,000 pages.[1]
    • "sexual and reproductive health" yields 1,350,000 pages[2],
    • "reproductive and sexual health" yields 108,000 pages.
So, the order sexual and reproductive health appears to be more frequently used than reproductive and sexual health. Either of the parts (sexual health) or (reproductive health) appear to be used much more frequently than the combination. Zodon (talk) 23:16, 3 February 2009 (UTC)Reply
Reproductive health covers some things that are not obviously sexual health (e.g. pregnancy, infertility, etc.). Does sexual health cover things that the term reproductive health doesn't? (i.e. is reproductive health a superset of sexual health, or are they intersecting sets, with neither one a superset of the other). Zodon (talk) 07:25, 4 February 2009 (UTC)Reply
If we treat the two terms "Reproductive Health" and "Sexual Health" as seperate, and attempt to order them in a heirarchy, it is difficult to say either term is a supersect of the other; indeed, they are intersecting. I suggest the term Sexual and Reproductive Health be used because matters of reproductive health and sexual health are so intimately linked, that it is more effective to treat them together. One cannot provide effective education of family planning, sexually transmitted infections, nor prevent unwanted pregnancy without educating on sexuality and sexual behaviour. The aims of family planning, to freely and safely choose the spacing of children, promotes not just education on reproductive processes (which are sexual by nature, although the wonders of science do provide alternatives), but also sexual health. While you are correct that the issues of pregnancy and infertility are not obviously sexual health, the relationship to sexuality is indisputable.
The current article makes mention of the ICPD Program of Action, and rightly so. It is an important document for reproductive health that is used as both a legitimation and justification for health interventions in developing countries. However, the ICPD treats much more than simply health, but also rights. To quote the ICPD Program of Action, Chapter VII on Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Health:

Reproductive rights... rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. They also include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence. Full attention should be given to promoting mutually respectful and equitable gender relations and particularly to meeting the educational and service needs of adolescents to enable them to deal in a positive and responsible way with their sexuality.[1]

It is with the issue of rights that the term Sexual and Reproductive Health becomes most fitting. Making decisions regarding one's reproductive health implies one has the right to make a free and informed choice about their sexual behaviour, assisted by sexual and reproductive health services, information and supplies.
I have considered providing SRH with its own article. However, since the term itself necessarily includes all aspects of RH, a potential article would be rather redundant. Instead, changing this article's name to SRH would allow RH to be treated in full, as both a health issue but also as a rights issue, which could promote a broader treatment of SRH issues both within this article, as well as linkages to other related articles within the wikipedia universe, such as FGM. Fijnlijn (talk) 09:47, 4 February 2009 (UTC)Reply
I prefer the shorter Reproductive health - easier to remember, less likely to have to pipe it when add redirect on other pages, less to type when linking to the page. (Per the article naming guidelines in a nutshell, it is brief, it doesn't seem particularly ambiguous, and it makes linking to the article simple.)WP:NAME
This article already covers sexual and reproductive health - as the lead and the redirects indicate. The particular name used for the article does not mean that name has special status over the others (I'm sure I read that someplace in the wikipedia documentation, but can't find it at the moment.) So as it stands the article includes both sexual and reproductive health.
I agree that trying to make separate article on sexual and reproductive health would be difficult, and certainly doesn't seem to be enough here to warrant it at this time.
So far I am not persuaded that the longer name is more easily recognized by a general audience (as compared to specialists).
As a side note - most of the material you mentioned about rights seems more apropos of the article on reproductive rights. (Sure can mention here where appropriate, but main coverage should go there.) Zodon (talk) 11:12, 4 February 2009 (UTC)Reply
I'm coming in late on this discussion but I don't think Reproductive Health should be the all-encompassing term for this article. For most homosexual people, "reproductive health" would not be a good expression for this topic, and "sexual health" would be the sensible term to use. In terms of the naming of the article, I would be happy with Sexual and Reproductive Health as suggestedAlexd (talk) 04:42, 14 September 2009 (UTC)Reply
Most of the topics in sexual and reproductive health deal with the reproductive system; whether one is using it for reproduction or not is a separate issue. I assume that LGBT would probably acknowledge such system/functions, even if they may not typically use the reproductive functions. With the advent of modern contraceptives, most couples spend much of their lives avoiding the reproductive functions of said systems (which doesn't mean they don't have those functions, just question of how use it.)
I prefer keeping the name shorter if reasonable to do so.
Although it was asserted above that sexual health is not a subset of reproductive health, I am not clear on why it is not. (e.g. what are examples of sexual health that aren't reproductive health). Zodon (talk) 03:17, 15 September 2009 (UTC)Reply
Being the receptive partner in anal sex is the domain of sexual health, but not reproductive health. One could argue that any form of non-coital sex has one person with sexual health concerns but no reproductive health concerns i.e. use of anus, mouth, finger, big toe or whatever else people choose to use :) 78.149.241.87 (talk) 23:30, 15 September 2009 (UTC)Reply


I'm thinking about updating this page for a University project--any ideas? Jaytro6560 (talk) 20:48, 19 February 2018 (UTC)Reply

Relation of Racial hygiene to Sexual hygiene edit

Reproductive health is sometimes called sexual hygiene ; this expression appears to have a strong ideological connotation, that in some ways recalls the older, perhaps more controversial notion of racial hygiene / racial health, which was at the heart of scientific racism in the early 20th century. Although it's not clear how these two concepts are related, the article should perhaps investigate the ideologies that underlie these types of social representations. ADM (talk) 01:09, 2 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

First, is there any evidence that the concepts are related? (Aside from the trivial relation of both using the word hygiene (health)).
I don't see any relation between the concepts. Racial hygiene seems related to eugenics and breeding. Whereas sexual hygiene (in the context of reproductive health) is health relating to sexuality. Zodon (talk) 07:21, 2 March 2009 (UTC)Reply
It seems that both were at one time related to the late 19th century social hygiene movement, from which they branched off ; only that racial hygiene was later declared heretical, while sexual hygiene was all but preserved in most intellectual circles. ADM (talk) 18:40, 2 March 2009 (UTC)Reply
Sounds like at best an historical footnote as far as this article. Maybe better covered in the articles on social hygiene movement or eugenics (other movements/concepts they gave rise to). Thanks for the link. Zodon (talk) 00:23, 3 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

Role within the global health care system edit

The article should maybe give information on what is the sizable role of reproductive health departments within the entire global health care system. To my knowledge, it is a fairly new and fairly important sector of modern health care. It also appears to be one of the most politicized and most activist forms of health care in the history of medicine. While certain forms of health care have been more or less marginalized, such as homeopathic or traditional Chinese medicine, in terms of sociology, reproductive health has become one of the most institutionalized and industrialized forms of health treatment on Earth today. ADM (talk) 21:36, 23 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

Male reproductive health edit

Another issue that should probably be discussed in the entry is male reproductive health, because many authors too often assume that it is purely a matter of female health care. ADM (talk) 08:59, 7 July 2009 (UTC)Reply

NPOV edit

At least some mention should be made of the Chilean maternal mortality study. 75.118.170.35 (talk) 16:29, 19 April 2010 (UTC)Reply

FGM edit

What about the emotional and psychological damage to females regarding this issue? Nothing about such? Seems lacking.66.81.255.238 (talk) 05:10, 24 May 2014 (UTC)Reply

I added some more information and citations to this section. Tyto-sapien (talk) 01:19, 29 November 2018 (UTC)Reply

Female genital mutilation - why not male? edit

Why is male circumcision not mentioned? 207.232.18.140 (talk) 13:10, 27 November 2016 (UTC)Reply

For reasons made clear elsewhere. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 01:19, 28 November 2016 (UTC)Reply

Expansion of Information on Socio-Economic Effects/Causes with Regards to Reproductive Health edit

The article could do with some expansion of the reproductive health effects on socio-economic status and vice versa. My user page currently has some references which might be used to flesh this out. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Knaro (talkcontribs) 19:28, 13 April 2017 (UTC)Reply


I agree! I was looking for these references on this page. I believe that SES plays a huge part in wo/men's reproductive health. Jaytro6560 (talk) 20:50, 19 February 2018 (UTC)Reply

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Hi Jayme, I just finished your peer review. The article is great and super informative. Your initial contribution doesn't look like you added a ton of information, so that would be my only suggestion. The flow, transitions and references are great.Smajlovic1237 (talk) 16:10, 9 April 2018 (UTC)Reply

Lede edit

I've restored the old lede - the revisions from May include original research and are very confusing.Heliotom (talk) 06:04, 21 June 2018 (UTC)Reply

Hey how can I help with editing this page?--Gtostowe (talk) 20:08, 6 February 2021 (UTC)Reply

@Gtostowe, you might want to talk about your ideas for improving the page at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Women's Health or Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Medicine. There are probably editors there who could help you, and besides, it's always nice to 'meet' people who are interested in the same subject area, right? WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:15, 8 February 2021 (UTC)Reply

Renaming to Sexual and reproductive health edit

Sexual and reproductive health have considerable overlap and relation that they are not often discussed as singular subjects, but as "sexual and reproductive health". A previous discussion about this took place in 2009 (see above), and I can't see a clear outcome from this.

However, I think the points made by @Zodon have merit and, from an academic perspective, sexual and reproductive health is more common and more encompassing than just reproductive health. As this article currently touches upon interrelated issues of sexual wellbeing and reproductive health, I think the rename would better help reflect its content and scope. Jamzze (talk) 09:27, 6 December 2021 (UTC)Reply

Jamzze, Wikipedia has something they call "the common name policy." So the name depends on that. "Sexual and reproductive health" seems a little long-winded. I'm sure people understand "reproductive health" to include sexual aspects. I wouldn't oppose the renaming you suggest, but it looks like this should go through a renaming discussion first. SangdXurWan (talk) 04:37, 21 December 2021 (UTC)Reply

Just reading through the policy it mentions: "it generally prefers the name that is most commonly used (as determined by its prevalence in a significant majority of independent, reliable English-language sources)" - sexual and reproductive health is the most commonly used term for the subject, not simply reproductive health.
It may add on to the name, but it better reflects the joint nature of the area of study. Jamzze (talk) 10:11, 21 December 2021 (UTC)Reply

Requested move 21 December 2021 edit

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved per request. Favonian (talk) 13:40, 28 December 2021 (UTC)Reply


Reproductive healthSexual and reproductive health – Sexual and reproductive health are intertwinned areas of study that are presented together throughout academia and wider health bodies as a joint term to highlight the impact that both these areas of health have on the wellbeing of individuals. Presenting this simply as reproductive health fails to present to wikipedia readers both the complex relationship between sexual health and reproductive health as well as failing to represent the concept as it is most commonly used within academia as sexual and reproductive health or SRH. Renaming to sexual and reproductive health would then also align it better with other articles, such as sexual and reproductive health and rights. Although sexual health and reproductive health seem synonymous, they represent two very different areas within health. Renaming this article will help readers understand the scope of the SRH field, put it in alignment with academic use, and offer better signposting to the complex study of sexual and reproductive health. Jamzze (talk) 10:24, 21 December 2021 (UTC)Reply

  • Support - "Sexual and reproductive health" has increasingly become the prevailing term among reliable sources on the topic. The 2009 discussion about this proposed title also highlights the ways in which "sexual health" and "reproductive health" are overlapping, but not coterminous, labels; because of this relationship between the terms, giving them a shared article ensures that our coverage can be comprehensive without being redundant. ModernDayTrilobite (talkcontribs) 20:31, 21 December 2021 (UTC)Reply
  • Support per nom, for reasons listed above. Paintspot Infez (talk) 02:49, 22 December 2021 (UTC)Reply
  • Support Rreagan007 (talk) 22:03, 27 December 2021 (UTC)Reply
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

==Wiki Education assignment: African Politics==  This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 17 January 2022 and 11 May 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Avanisingh94 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Angelina4118, Juliagonsman, Gshiferaw.

Orphaned references in Sexual and reproductive health edit

I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Sexual and reproductive health's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "UNICEF2016":

  • From Gender equality: "Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Global Concern" (PDF). New York: United Nations Children's Fund. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-10. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  • From Hand washing: UNICEF, GIZ (2016). Scaling up group handwashing in schools – Compendium of group washing facilities across the globe. New York; Eschborn, Germany
  • From Genital modification and mutilation: UNICEF 2016.
  • From WASH: UNICEF, GIZ (2016). Scaling up group handwashing in schools - Compendium of group washing facilities across the globe. New York, USA; Eschborn, Germany

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT 12:50, 3 April 2022 (UTC)Reply

Probably the first one, but I posted on the talk page of the IP who added it about it. Crossroads -talk- 05:31, 4 April 2022 (UTC)Reply