The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health and Wellness, Ms Ruth Maphorisa officially launched the 2019 State of World Population (SWOP) report on 5 June in Gaborone, Botswana. The report, with the theme Unfinished business: the pursuit of rights and choices for all, celebrates the great achievements in sexual and reproductive health and rights made in the last 50 years while challenging the world to address barrier...

Fifty years ago, it was hard for women to obtain contraception and relatively easy to die giving birth. Many women were unable to decide whom and when to marry, and when or whether to have children. A worldwide movement to give women real choices in life culminated in the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), where a consensus was reached about the links between women’s empowerment, sex...

This year’s State of the World Population (SWOP) report comes at the 50th anniversary of the creation of UNFPA, the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health, and the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The report analyzes the progress the world has made regarding the promises of the ICPD including putting individuals in charge of their own reproductive decisions...