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Human rights as a framework for eliminating female genital schistosomiasis

Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) affects tens of millions of women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, yet this inequitable threat is often overlooked by advocates in both the neglected tropical disease (NTD) and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) communities. FGS causes both acute in...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Williams, Caitlin R., Seunik, Maximillian, Meier, Benjamin Mason
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8893342/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35239651
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010165
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author Williams, Caitlin R.
Seunik, Maximillian
Meier, Benjamin Mason
author_facet Williams, Caitlin R.
Seunik, Maximillian
Meier, Benjamin Mason
author_sort Williams, Caitlin R.
collection PubMed
description Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) affects tens of millions of women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, yet this inequitable threat is often overlooked by advocates in both the neglected tropical disease (NTD) and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) communities. FGS causes both acute infection and long-term sexual and reproductive health harm to marginalized women and girls, with gender, poverty, and rurality combining to invisibilize the disease. Human rights and gender imperatives can help to galvanize efforts to control and eliminate FGS, as they have for other NTDs. Specifically, international human rights obligations can frame state efforts to address FGS across healthcare settings, upstream social determinants of health, scientific research, and policy implementation. This article analyzes human rights–based approaches to FGS control and elimination efforts, outlining several areas for forward-looking reforms to health policy, programing, and practice. Building from the lessons learned in applying human rights–based approaches to advance progress on other NTDs, this analysis seeks to provide the NTD community with shared understanding around international legal obligations to engage SRHR advocates and draw heightened attention to FGS. Such human rights–based approaches to FGS control and elimination can help to reduce stigma and improve care for the millions of women and girls currently affected by this preventable disease.
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spelling pubmed-88933422022-03-04 Human rights as a framework for eliminating female genital schistosomiasis Williams, Caitlin R. Seunik, Maximillian Meier, Benjamin Mason PLoS Negl Trop Dis Policy Platform Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) affects tens of millions of women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, yet this inequitable threat is often overlooked by advocates in both the neglected tropical disease (NTD) and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) communities. FGS causes both acute infection and long-term sexual and reproductive health harm to marginalized women and girls, with gender, poverty, and rurality combining to invisibilize the disease. Human rights and gender imperatives can help to galvanize efforts to control and eliminate FGS, as they have for other NTDs. Specifically, international human rights obligations can frame state efforts to address FGS across healthcare settings, upstream social determinants of health, scientific research, and policy implementation. This article analyzes human rights–based approaches to FGS control and elimination efforts, outlining several areas for forward-looking reforms to health policy, programing, and practice. Building from the lessons learned in applying human rights–based approaches to advance progress on other NTDs, this analysis seeks to provide the NTD community with shared understanding around international legal obligations to engage SRHR advocates and draw heightened attention to FGS. Such human rights–based approaches to FGS control and elimination can help to reduce stigma and improve care for the millions of women and girls currently affected by this preventable disease. Public Library of Science 2022-03-03 /pmc/articles/PMC8893342/ /pubmed/35239651 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010165 Text en © 2022 Williams et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Policy Platform
Williams, Caitlin R.
Seunik, Maximillian
Meier, Benjamin Mason
Human rights as a framework for eliminating female genital schistosomiasis
title Human rights as a framework for eliminating female genital schistosomiasis
title_full Human rights as a framework for eliminating female genital schistosomiasis
title_fullStr Human rights as a framework for eliminating female genital schistosomiasis
title_full_unstemmed Human rights as a framework for eliminating female genital schistosomiasis
title_short Human rights as a framework for eliminating female genital schistosomiasis
title_sort human rights as a framework for eliminating female genital schistosomiasis
topic Policy Platform
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8893342/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35239651
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010165
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