Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1694818618876.pdf (Australia)
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee The International Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Consortium United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)Submission 62 The International Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Consortium (The Consortium) is a partnership of Australia’s leading non-government organisations that together champion uni- versal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
We believe that all people should have the freedom to make their own decisions about their bodies and their lives.

We thank the Parliament for the opportunity to share our expertise through this submission to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee Inquiry on the United Nations Sustainable Develop- ment Goals.

We commend the Australian Government’s decision to join 193 other countries on this collec- tive journey to shift the world towards a sustainable and resilient path of global development.
We know that firm commitments to implementing this agenda will achieve strong advances in human health, wellbeing and safety.

The Millennium Development Goals demonstrated what we can achieve with our ambition – for example, halving global maternal mortality.

However, despite this achievement, too many women and girls are still dying of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.
It is now time to complete what remains unfinished and uphold the commitments we have made towards sustainable development and a better future for us all.

Which of the SDGs is Australia best suited to achieving through our ODA pro- gram, and should Australia’s ODA be consolidated to focus on achieving a core SDG?

Our submission contributes to one piece of the broad SDG agenda, which reflects the exper- tise in sexual and reproductive health programming of The Consortium partners.
While repro- ductive health and rights are key outcomes in Goal 3, Good Health and Wellbeing (targets 3.1 and 3.7) and Goal 5, Gender Equality (target 5.6), the Goals are interconnected and the impact of our work influences the achievement of almost all of the Goals.
This includes No Poverty (Goal 1), Quality Education (Goal 4), Gender Equality (Goal 5), Decent Work (Goal 8), Sustaina- ble Cities and Communities (Goal 11), Climate Action (Goal 13), Peace, Justice and Strong In- stitutions (Goal 16), and Partnerships for the Goals (Goal 17).

The Australian government should invest across all the Goals, with an underlying and persis- tent focus on achieving gender equality.
The Government should adopt a transformational ap- proach to SDG implementation through the aid program by focusing on key systemic drivers that cut across goals, and working with partner countries to identify focus areas in line with their development priorities.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)Submission 62 As stated in the Preamble to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the realisation of gender equality will be crucial to the progress across all the Goals and targets.
‘The achieve- ment of full human potential and of sustainable development is not possible if one half of hu- manity continues to be denied its full human rights and opportunities.’ A key driver of gender equality is the realisation of sexual and reproductive health rights by women and girls.

For women to be equal, healthy, educated, financially secure, and live free from violence, they need to be able to make informed decisions about their own bodies.
We commend the Australian Government’s strong commitment to achieving gender equality through our aid program as well as our diplomatic and trade re- lationships.

In addition, we commend the Ambassador for Women and Girls’ announcement at the 2017 Family Planning Summit on behalf of the Australian Government to commit an additional $30 million in funding for sexual and reproductive health programming in the Pacific region over the next five years.
This contribution will be critical for addressing stagnant health indicators in this region.

We recommend the Government continue to build on this agenda, channelling our diplomatic, trade and aid efforts towards the achievement of gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Specifically:  Continue to advocate on the world stage in support of sexual and reproductive health and rights, including in times of humanitarian emergencies.
Our messaging should align with the SDG targets, with a view to reducing the maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births (target 3.1) and ensuring universal access to sexual and reproduc- tive health services by 2030 (target 3.7)  Meet Australia’s 2012 commitment to the Family Planning 2020 Summit and invest at least $50 million a year in contraceptive information, services and supplies.
If we fulfil this commitment and successfully contribute to global efforts to address women’s unmet need for contraception by 2020, we will have met an important interim target, putting us firmly on track to achieving SDG targets 3.1 and 3.7 by 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)Submission 62  Embrace the guiding principle of the Agenda 2030 document and endeavour to leave no one behind.
This means targeting sexual and reproductive health services to the coun- tries and populations where needs are greatest: i.e.

(i) the 12 countries in our region that are home to 90 per cent of maternal deaths1; and (ii) rural communities, ethnic minorities, people living with disability, sex workers, and people who may face persecution or stig- matization due to their gender identity or sexual orientation.
 Ensure this investment is successful by supporting organisations working on the ground to deliver high quality sexual and reproductive health care.

This includes providing ser- vices and information that are appropriate, accessible, and free from coercion or discrimi- nation.
What governance structures and accountability measures are required at the na- tional, state and local levels of government to ensure an integrated approach to implementing the SDGs that is both meaningful and achieves real outcome?
The Consortium supports the recommendation by the Australian Council for International De- velopment (ACFID), for the Australian Government to invest in strengthening the collection of disaggregated data in the Asia-Pacific region, in order to identify those missing out, target re- sources and track progress over time to ensure we are leaving no one behind.

This includes disaggregating data based on sex, age, income and geographic location regardless of marital status2.
Adolescents, particularly those younger than 15 years, remain a neglected group across national level data sources3.

How are countries in the Indo-Pacific responding to implementing the SDGs, which of the SDGs have been prioritised by countries receiving Australia’s ODA, and how could these priorities be incorporated into Australia’s ODA program?

The Consortium shares in this section our expertise in implementing the SDG agenda in part- nerships with governments through a collection of case studies .
The Burnet Institute partnered with WaterAid Australia and the Myanmar Ministries of Health and Education to better understand the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents in Myanmar.

This research project examined adolescents’ knowledge of, and access to educa- tion about, sexual and reproductive health and menstrual hygiene management 1.

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philip- pines and Timor-Leste.

2.
2.

National Demographic and Health Surveys do not consistently collect data across SRHR indicators for adults and adolescents who are unmarried or not living in a contextually recognised formal union.

3.

Ideally, all data should be disaggregated by sex and five-year age bands for the first 25 years of life.

Global Accelerated Ac- tion for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA!)

Guidance to Support Country Implementation – Summary.
Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)Submission 62 This project filled an important data gap, revealing a lack of information for young people that resulted in unhygienic practices and reduced participation in school activities.
The Burnet Insti- tute, WaterAid and the Myanmar Ministry of Education used the findings to develop a new five -year project to support teachers and improve the quality of sexual and reproductive health education in Myanmar’s Monastic schools.

This project was funded by the Australian Govern- ment through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program.
CARE Australia, Marie Stopes International and Save the Children partnered together to reduce maternal and newborn mortality in Cambodia, with a particular focus on supporting vulnerable groups, such as ethnic minorities, garment factory workers and women with disabilities.
By im- proving the quality of health services alongside supporting people’s access to and use of health services, we have significantly improved skilled birth attendance, contraceptive use, community referral to health services, and knowledge of danger signs during pregnancy and for newborns.
Specifically, we’ve improved infrastructure to support safe childbirth and estab- lished sexual and reproductive health clinics in garment factories; we’ve strengthened skills and respectful health care through health worker training, coaching and mentoring networks; and we’ve worked with community volunteers, radio listening and dialogue groups, minority groups and disability organisations to increase knowledge of and promote more supportive attitudes towards sexual and reproductive health and rights.
By translating what we have learned through research and implementation at the provincial level into national level policy recommendations and good practice guidance, we are scaling up our impact in support of the Cambodian Government’s Fast Track Initiative Road Map for Reducing Maternal and Newborn Mortality.
Family Planning New South Wales worked closely with the Fijian Government to set up the first national cervical screening policy in the Pacific, and is extending this work into other Pacific countries..

Recent media has highlighted that Australia is on track to become the first country in the world to eliminate cervical cancer through our vaccination and screening programs.
In contrast, women in the Pacific are dying at up to 13 times the rate as Australian women (Australia 1.6, PNG 21.7, Fiji 20.9, Solomon Islands 18; Vanuatu 9.8 per 100,000) due to the lack of cervical cancer prevention, screening and treatment services.

Family Planning NSW were United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)Submission 62 successful in advocating to the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat for a regional approach needs to be taken to address the burden of cervical cancer.
Since 2010, Family Planning NSW has worked with government and NGOs in Cook Islands, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands to provide training and capacity building to ensure sustainable screening and treatment programs are es- tablished within the health system.

Through these programs, over 160 clinicians have been trained and 12,000 women screened.
In Fiji and Solomon Islands, we have piloted a resource- effective method of screening and treating cervical pre-cancer, using Visual Inspection with Acetic acid (VIA) and cryotherapy, a World Health Organisation endorsed method for develop- ing country settings and have proven it as be a viable alternative for Pacific countries.

By imple- menting effective cervical cancer screening and treatment methods, we can save women’s lives, contributing directly to SDG 3 (Health).
This project was funded by the Australian Govern- ment through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation supported its Member Association in Vanua- tu, the Vanuatu Family Health Association with a humanitarian response following the eruption of the Monaro Voui Volcano in 2017, which forced the entire population of Ambae Island to be evacuated.
Mobile health ‘outreach’ clinics run by the health association’s nurses and midwives were conducted in extremely rural and remote villages.

The outreach teams provided antena- tal care and referrals for high-risk pregnancies, family planning counselling and services, and screening and management of sexually transmitted infections.

Through the humanitarian re- sponse, they reached over 1,600 people with sexual and reproductive health care and infor- mation.
This response was supported by the Australian Government as part of the International Planned Parenthood Federation’s SPRINT program.

The International Women’s Development Agency partnered with the Burnet Institute and WaterAid Australia to research the challenges women and girls face managing their menstrua- tion.
The research, conducted in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, contributes to a greater understanding of the barriers menstruation can pose to equal participation in school, work and community life.

The findings demonstrated that many adolescent girls and women lack comprehensive knowledge about menstruation, and suffer poor access to reputa- ble commercial sanitary products and quality toilet and wash facilities, resulting in absenteeism from school and work.
These challenges were magnified for women with disabilities.

The Last Taboo, funded by the Australian Government, directly contributes to a greater understanding of Sustainable Development Goals 6 (clean water and sanitation), Goal 4 (Quality Education), Goal 8 (Decent Work), as well as Goal 3 (Health) and Goal 5 (Gender Equality).
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)Submission 62 Plan International is working in partnership with the Autonomous Region of Bougainville De- partments of Health and Education, and the Bougainville Healthy Communities Project, to sup- port over 2,500 young people in five communities to improve their access to sexual, reproduc- tive and maternal health knowledge and services.
This project tackles the high rates of sexually transmitted infections across Papua New Guinea and addresses the difficulties young women fact in accessing health clinics due to real and perceived stigma and discrimination.

By deliver- ing sexual health information and services through communities, secondary and upper primary schools and by working with health centre staff, this project engaged with young women (aged 15-29 years) to promote knowledge and self-management of reproductive health.
This includ- ed encouraging better nutrition during adolescence, and encouraging people to access health centres.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)Submission 62