Sexual and reproductive health and rights is at the edge—restoring it will require courage

Global health stands at a crossroads. The deliberate dismantling of comprehensive, rights-based approaches to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) is accelerating under the guise of efficiency and innovation. In their place, narrow technocratic models dominate, which claim to prize metrics and “scalability” while neglecting the structural, legal, and social determinants of health. This shift must be seen for what it is: a political retreat from the foundational principles of gender justice, health equity, and human rights. Decades of progress is being reversed as funding collapses, research and advocacy are defunded, and institutions reshape themselves to appease donor agendas.1 We’re left with a hollowed-out agenda, which is politically anaemic, morally disengaged, and incapab