To mark World Sexual Health Day and the beginning of World Sexual Health Awareness Month, Bahaghari Center for SOGIE Research, Education and Advocacy (Bahaghari Center) has launched its sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) program that particularly focuses on advancing SRHR for minority sectors. 

Dubbed as a proactive approach to SRHR, the program aims not just to develop vital and basic SRHR information through accessible online and offline resources, but also the capacity-building of community leaders and organizations, and community organizing to strengthen collective advocacy for inclusive and affirming sexual health services.

“It cannot be stressed enough that sexual and reproductive health and rights are for everyone. So we must ensure that they are not only recognized in principle, but available and accessible for everyone, without exception,” said Mx Disney Aguila, Bahaghari Center Co-Executive Director.

For Bahaghari Center Co-Director Aaron Moises Bonete, this is needed to link global frameworks with local realities. 

In a 2005 statement, the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized that people should be able to experience their sexuality positively and with dignity, free from stigma and violence. “And yet in the Philippines, urgent challenges persist. Among others, teenage pregnancies rose by 35%, while HIV cases among youth increased by 500% over the past decade, with 57 new cases reported daily. We need to come up with initiatives addressing local contexts about these global concerns.”

This year, Bahaghari Center’s priority is to provide vital and basic SRHR information, even as it prepares the ground for more inclusive and affirming SRHR advocacy through environmental scoping/baseline research on the SRHR issues and needs of Deaf LGBTQIA+ Filipinos.

“We hope to signal our dedication to ensuring that sexual health is inclusive, welcoming, and affirming for all — especially for persons with disabilities within LGBTQIA+ communities often left behind in policy and practice,” Bonete said.

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