The Principle of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Why It Is Central to Broad Advancements in Human Health and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This chapter begins with a consideration of the strongly relational character of human health by outlining the centrality of gender. The following sub-sections present conceptual understandings of both sexual and reproductive health, followed by definitions of the terms that enjoy a broad consensus. The first section ends with a consideration of sexual and reproductive health as a configuration of closely inter-related issues—including but not limited to HIV and AIDS. The second half of the chapter offers a rationale for the sub-Saharan focus of the study and introduces political, normative and socio-legal perspectives that will inform subsequent chapters.