SRHM Podcast
by Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM)
The SRHM Podcast explores new research and emerging trends in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters or SRHM promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights globally. At the heart of SRHM is a multidisciplinary, open-access, peer-reviewed journal. SRHM also creates and participates in spaces that motivate improvements in research, policy, services and practice. It contributes to capacity building in knowledge generation. Learn more at srhm.org. Music by Tiber Krisztián and Salamon BotondSound editing by We Edit Podcasts
Episodes
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Making rights real: Abortion access after legal reform in Benin
A conversation between Laura Ferguson, Ramatou Ouedraogo, Njeri Mbuthia, Jonna Both and Vanessa Sekpon. On Safe Abortion Day, 28 September, SRHM explores what happens after abortion rights are recognised in law. In 2021, Benin expanded the legal grounds for abortion, marking a significant step...
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Building a Future HIV Response
If we designed the HIV response around the girls who need it most, what would we do differently? A conversation between Laura Ferguson (SRHM), Serah Malaba (Tiko) and Lindsay Hayden (Elton John AIDS Foundation).
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Rethinking how we fund the fight against child marriage
In the latest episode of the SRHM Podcast, SRHM Chief Executive Eszter Kismodi speaks with Lara van Kouterik, Interim Co-CEO and Director of Strategy, Evidence and Impact at Girls Not Brides, about why current funding models are falling short and what needs to change. Drawing on a recent SRHM…
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Future-Proofing: The Professionalization of an Anti-Rights Youth Generation
In this episode, Eszter Kismődi and Jamie Vernaelde, Senior researcher at Ipas, explore how anti-rights movements cultivate young people’s involvement from an early age, using schools, universities and campus organisations as entry points. They trace how this involvement can continue through...
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Call for Proposals – Resisting Erasure: Communities Reclaiming Knowledge Production
Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) knowledge production spans a wide range of methodological approaches and perspectives. Yet one set of voices and views that have been missing in discourse are those of practitioners and communities. While SRHM – together with its peer-reviewed open...
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Emotional capitalism and artificial intimacy: Have you paid the subscription to your partner?
What does intimacy mean in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence? This discussion brings together critical perspectives on the rise of AI companions, chatbots and other technologies that promise connection, care and even love. While these systems are often framed as solutions to...
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S*x in the Shadows of Big Tech
During a time of authoritarianism, digital surveillance, and increasing criminalisation, this webinar explores how social media shadowbanning and deplatforming affect sexual health educators, sex workers, and other marginalised communities.By sharing both their experiences of censorship and their...
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The Next Wave: How Religious Extremism Is Regaining Power
In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, Eszter Kismődi and Neil Datta, Executive Director and founder of the European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF), take a deep dive into the evolving landscape of anti-gender and anti-rights movements, drawing on new analysis from the...
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Unlocking the Girl Dividend: Why Smarter Health Financing is Africa’s Best Economic Bet
In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, Eszter Kismődi is joined by Sarah Malaba, Co-CEO of Tiko, to explore how smarter, more equitable health financing can transform the lives of adolescent girls across Sub-Saharan Africa, and why this is fundamentally a question of economic justice. At the centre...
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Beyond the Ruling: Kenya’s Abortion Appeal, Post-Abortion Care and the Fight for Reproductive Justice
A recent Court of Appeal decision in Kenya has generated concern among healthcare providers, reproductive justice advocates and human rights movements in Kenya and beyond. The ruling overturned elements of a landmark High Court decision and reinstated criminal proceedings involving a young woman...
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Menstrual Justice
A SRHM Podcast conversation with Lizzie Kiama and Tara Mukeku-Cilolo for World Menstrual Health Day. Disability rights advocate Lizzie Kiama of This Ability Trust Kenya and Tara Mukeku-Cilolo of Fòs Feminista joined Eszter Kismodi of SRHM for a special podcast exploring how menstrual health...
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Queering Health Systems: Call for Proposals
In partnership with the University of the Western Cape School of Public Health, SRHM is excited to launch a call for proposals for a themed issue on Queering Health Systems. Shaped by a dynamic online consultation with organisations and experts across the field, this issue aims to spark bold,...
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People, Planet, and Rights: Connecting Climate Action and SRHR
In this episode, Laura Ferguson is joined by Angela Baschieri and Martina Yopo Diaz to discuss the critical links between climate change and sexual and reproductive health and rights. From disrupted reproductive healthcare and climate-related displacement to eco-anxiety and changing fertility...
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RightsCon Cancelled: SRHR, Digital Rights, Misuse of Power, and the Demand for Accountability
In this SRHM podcast episode, Eszter Kismődi speaks with three outstanding leaders and experts working at the intersection of digital rights and sexual and reproductive justice. We were honoured to have Dr. Zahra Stardust, researcher at Queensland University of Technology’s Digital Media Research...
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Justice Beyond Jails: Rethinking Criminalisation, Accountability, and Responses to Gender-Based Violence
What does justice look like beyond policing, prosecution, and prisons? In the latest SRHM Podcast, Eszter Kismődi speaks with Subha Wijesiriwardena and Susana T. Fried of Just Futures Collaborative about their new global campaign, Justice beyond Jails — an initiative rethinking responses to...
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Hungary’s 12 April 2026 Elections: Personal and Professional Reflections Across Generations
In this episode, we hear personal and professional reflections from Eszter Kismődi, Hungarian Citizen, International Human Rights Lawyer and Chief Executive of SRHM. Just hours after the elections results were announced, Eszter hosts a series of conversations bringing together legal…
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The Constitutionalisation of Abortion in France and Beyond: Reflections Two Years On in a Global Context
In this episode of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) Podcast, Eszter Kismődi speaks with Stéphanie Hennette-Vauchez, Professor of Public Law at Université Paris Nanterre and Senior Member of the Institut universitaire de France, about France’s landmark 2024 constitutional reform...
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Reconnecting SRHR and Devlopment Justice: Launch of the Global South Coalition
In this episode of the SRHM podcast, Eszter Kismődi, Chief Executive of SRHM, speaks with Professor Gita Sen, a globally recognised feminist economist from India whose work has been instrumental in shaping global debates linking gender equality, development justice, and SRHR. The conversation...
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Intersecting Crises and Cross-sector Solutions: Environmental Justice and SRHR
This episode of the SRHM Podcast brings together leading experts to explore the intersections between environmental justice and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), in the context of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Opening and closing remarks are delivered…
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Power and authorship in gender and sexual and reproductive research
Who produces knowledge on gender and sexual and reproductive health in Africa, and whose voices shape the evidence that informs policy and practice? In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, Sapna Desai, Editor-in-Chief of the SRHM Journal, speaks with researchers Woldekidan Amde and Kéfilath Bello...
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Survival strategies and health repercussions in forced displacement: Transactional sex in focus
In this episode of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters Podcast, Eszter Kismődi speaks with Dr Shirin Heidari and Professor Monica A. Onyango about their multi-country study, Survival Strategies and Health Repercussions in Forced Displacement. Drawing on research conducted between 2021 and...
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Finding the Cosmos of Intimacies: Send Us Your Love Letters
This Valentine’s Day and World Condom Day, SRHM turns to pleasure. In this episode, we spotlight the editorial of SRHM’s Pleasure Collection developed in collaboration with The Pleasure Project and Agents of Ishq. Too often, sexual and reproductive health and rights are framed only through risk,...
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Re-release - Female genital mutilation in Africa: Politics of criminalisation
On 9 September 2025, SRHM hosted a thought-provoking webinar to launch the open-access book Female Genital Mutilation in Africa: Politics of Criminalisation, edited by Satang Nabaneh, Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Dayton Human Rights Center, and affiliated faculty at the...
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The Global Gag Rule Expanded: How Anti-Rights Ideology Is Governing U.S. Foreign Aid
In a new episode of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) podcast, SRHM convenes leading experts and advocates to unpack the implications of three newly issued U.S. foreign assistance rules and what they mean for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) worldwide. To explore…
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Extractivism, Gold Mining, and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Kenya: Community Realities and Wider Implications
Eszter Kismodi, Chief Executive of SRHM, is joined by Allan Maleche (KELIN), Mercy Kalemela and Audrey Bigeti (Girls to Women Kenya) to explore how extractive industries are reshaping land, power and sexual and reproductive health and rights in Kenya. Focusing on gold mining in Kakamega County…
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ACORCA: Building an African-led movement for safe abortion
At a time when sexual and reproductive health and rights are under renewed political and ideological attack globally, African researchers and advocates are strengthening their collective voice and leadership on abortion. In this SRHM Podcast episode, Eszter Kismődi spokewith Naa Dodoo, Ramatou...
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Sex, Satisfaction, and Switching: The Questions Contraceptive Research and Implementation Forgot to Ask
On World Contraception Day, SRHM, in partnership with The Pleasure Project and WHO, hosted a powerful webinar launching a landmark systematic review: Sex, Satisfaction, and Switching: The Questions Contraceptive Research and Implementation Forgot to Ask. This review provides the first systematic...
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A Landmark Win for Reproductive Rights: Kenya’s High Court Ruling on the National Reproductive Health Policy
In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, SRHM Chief Executive Eszter Kismodi speaks with Allan Maleche, Executive Director of KELIN Kenya, and Jerop Limo, Executive Director of the Ambassadors for Youth and Adolescent Reproductive Health Programme (AYARHEP). Together, they discuss a groundbreaking…
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The right to science in sexual and reproductive health and the legal status of the human embryo
How should science shape laws and policies on reproductive health? What happens when ideology overrides evidence in decisions about IVF, abortion and reproductive autonomy? And why is the right to science a critical yet overlooked human right? In this thought-provoking episode of the SRHM…
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Surrogacy and bodily autonomy as a matter of sexual and reproductive justice
On 8 October 2025, Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) co-hosted a global webinar titled “Surrogacy as a Matter of Sexual and Reproductive Justice” in partnership with the Just Futures Collaborative, Center for Reproductive Rights, Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA)…
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Female genital mutilation in Africa: Politics of criminalisation
On 9 September 2025, SRHM hosted a thought-provoking webinar to launch the open-access book Female Genital Mutilation in Africa: Politics of Criminalisation, edited by Satang Nabaneh, Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Dayton Human Rights Center, and affiliated faculty at the...
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Global progress in abortion law reform since ICPD
In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, host Eszter Kismödi speaks with Katie Mayall, Laurenne Ajayi, and Caitlin Gruer—authors of the article Global progress in abortion law reform: a comparative legal analysis since the International Conference on Population and Development. Together, they unpack...
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Dr Faysal El Kak: Vision as the New President of the World Association for Sexual Health
In this episode, SRHM Chief Executive Eszter Kismödi speaks with Dr Faysal El Kak, Associate Professor at the American University of Beirut and newly elected President of the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS). Against a backdrop of global political and economic turbulence, Dr El Kak...
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Telehealth abortion services in Kenya via Women on Web
In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, we explore how people in Kenya are accessing safe abortion care online in the face of restrictive laws and limited health system support. Host Julia Hussein is joined by researchers Kenneth Juma (APHRC), Hazal Atay (Women on Web/Sciences Po), and Céline Miani...
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Re-release - Assisted Reproduction in Africa: Insights from Fertility Professionals
In this episode, re-released from August 2024 for World IVF Day 2025, Nina Sun, the Associated Editor of the SRHM journal, speaks to Trudie Gerrits and Andrea Whittaker, the authors of a recently published paper: Assisted reproductive technologies in sub-Saharan Africa: fertility professionals'...
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The Acceptability of Misoprostol-Only Abortion Through Mail and Pharmacies in the U.S
In this episode, host Nina Sun is joined by Dana Johnson, lead author of a new SRHM study exploring the acceptability of misoprostol-only medication abortion accessed via mail-order or retail pharmacies in the United States. As abortion access is increasingly restricted across the country, many...
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No Justice in a Genocide: Sexual and reproductive health and rights in Gaza
In this powerful conversation, host and SRHM Editorial Board member Laura Ferguson is joined by reproductive justice scholars Cordelia Freeman and Hala Shoman, authors of “No Justice in a Genocide”, to explore the devastating impact of war on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in...
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Ireland’s Abortion Journey: Stories of Silence, Struggle, and Reform
What does abortion access really look like in Ireland—before and after legal reform? In this powerful episode of the SRHM Podcast, host Mindy Jane Roseman is joined by three leading researchers—Niamh Skelly, Dyuti Chakravarty, and Lorraine Grimes—whose work reveals the lived realities behind...
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Avortement et stigmatisation sociale : Voix de jeunes femmes au Bénin
Dans ce premier épisode du podcast du Hub Afrique francophone de SRHM, fondé en 2019, Bouchra Assarag et Vincent De Brouwere accueillent Vanessa Dossi Sekpon, autrice d’une étude percutante sur les normes sociales autour de l’avortement chez les jeunes femmes au Bénin. Ensemble, ils explorent les...
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Towards an inclusive and culturally sensitive conceptualisation of sexual well-being of young people
In this episode of the SRHM Podcast, SRHM Advcocacy and External Relations Manager, Lisa Welsh, speaks with Lore Remmerie, Nicole Leonetti and Aslan Temirkhanov — co-authors of a new research article in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters — about reimagining how we define and support sexual...
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Welcoming Bioética UNAM: A New Journal in the Bioethics and SRHR Field
In this episode, SRHM Chief Executive, Eszter Kismodi, speaks to Gustavo Ortiz Millán, Editor in Chief of the recently launched journal 'Bioética UNAM', an academic journal publishing in bioethics, including in SRHR, from UNAM University, Mexico. The UNAM Bioethics journal , published by the UNAM...
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The upcoming Reproductive Health Network Kenya Pan-African Scientific Conference
In this episode, Eszter Kismodi, Chief Executive of SRHM, speaks to Nelly Munyasia and Edison Omollo from the Reproductive Health Network Keyna (RHNK) about the upcoming 8th Pan-African Adolescent and Youth SRHR Scientific Conference on 24th - 27th June 2025 in Mombasa, Kenya. It is still…
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Barriers and facilitators of participation in syphilis vaccine trials: a qualitative analysis to inform trial design and community engagement in the United States
In this episode, Emma Pitchforth, Executive Editor of the SRHM Journal, speaks to three of the authors of the recently published paper, Barriers and facilitators of participation in syphilis vaccine trials: a qualitative analysis to inform trial design and community engagement in the United…
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Call for Papers: Ensuring access to abortion as a matter of rights, equity and justice
In this episode we hear from Sundari Ravindran, Senior Editor of Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) Journal and Emma Pitchforth, Executive Editor of the SRHM Journal. They introduce our newest call for papers — one that focuses on a topic as urgent as ever: ensuring access to abortion…
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Educating ideal neoliberal citizens: discourses of agency and responsibility in comprehensive sexuality education
This episode of the SRHM Podcast is an audio recording of the paper, 'Educating ideal neoliberal citizens: discourses of agency and responsibility in comprehensive sexuality education' read by the author, Sarah Lewinger, and published in the SRHM Journal in October 2023. This paper includes an...
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The impact of HIV funding cuts on trans health and beyond
In this episode, we explore the urgent impact of HIV funding cuts on trans health—and the ripple effects beyond. We hear from three advocates working at the frontlines of trans health and rights across the globe. Joining us are: Anil Padavatan (he/she), Health Lead at Global Action for Trans...
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Attitudes Toward Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Their Associations with Reproductive Agency
Welcome to another thought-provoking episode of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters podcast! Today, we’re diving into a fascinating study published in the SRHM Journal titled “Attitudes toward sexual and reproductive health and rights and their associations with reproductive agency: a...
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Bridging the Gap: Maternal Care Challenges for Black & Latine Women in Indiana
In this episode, we’re tackling a pressing issue: the maternal health disparities faced by Black and Latine women—and how systemic barriers within healthcare contribute to these inequities. We’re honored to have two special guests with us today, Lucia Guerra-Reyes, Associate Professor, and Ruhun...
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Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to sexual and reproductive health services for women and gender-diverse people with disabilities in Canada
In this episode, we explore a groundbreaking study titled "Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to sexual and reproductive health services for women and gender-diverse people with disabilities in Canada: a qualitative study." published in the SRHM Journal. Joining us are Meredith Evans,...
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Extending the concept of “obstetric violence” to post-partum experiences: cautions regarding the “first ever” pill for post-partum depression
We’re back with another important conversation that demands attention. Today, we’re diving into acrucial yet often overlooked issue: post-partumobstetric violence—and how the pharmaceuticalization of post-partum depression treatment might be contributing to it. We’re honored to have two brilliant...
About this show
The SRHM Podcast explores new research and emerging trends in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters or SRHM promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights globally. At the heart of SRHM is a multidisciplinary, open-access, peer-reviewed journal. SRHM also creates and participates in spaces that motivate improvements in research, policy, services and practice. It contributes to capacity building in knowledge generation. Learn more at srhm.org. Music by Tiber Krisztián and Salamon BotondSound editing by We Edit Podcasts
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Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM)
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