5th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights

Dear Colleague,

The Africa Sexuality Resource Centre is pleased to announce on behalf of the African Federation for Sexual Health and Rights (AFSHR), that preparations have begun for the  5th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights.  The conference will be held in Cairo, Egypt from 19th - 22nd September, 2012, and will have as its theme: "Sexual Health and Culture in Africa". The conference was originally scheduled for 9th - 12 February, 2012, however, the ongoing socio-political situation in North Africa necessitated a postponement (see press release announcing the postponement).

The conference is convened by the African Federation for Sexual Health and Rights and organized by Egyptian Society for Sexual Health and Medicine. It will provide an opportunity to explore the roles of culture in the poor status of sexual health in Africa. It will also explore how to utilize positive attributes of culture in the promotion and maintenance of sexual health and rights through community reinforcing mechanisms.

 

The goal of the conference is to advance knowledge, policy and practice in favour of safe, responsible, respectable and pleasurable sexuality in Africa. The conference has the following objectives:

  1. To examine the contributions of culture to the present sexual health status of girls, boys, women and men.
  2. To highlight how existing human rights laws have already been used to challenge and reject interpretations of culture that seek to preserve harmful traditional practices, e.g. through litigation and advocacy.
  3. To share knowledge in research and policy as well as best practices for programming on sexuality and sexual health.

Conference Outcomes

The expected outcomes of the conference are:

  1. Conference technical papers and reports providing critical analysis on culture and sexuality, sexual health and rights
  2. Dissemination of relevant international declarations, charters, treaties and covenants
  3. Enhanced skills on advocacy and programming on sexuality, sexual health and rights

Expected Participants

The conference is expected to be attended by policy makers, social scientists, health care experts, educationists, media, development activists, sexual health and rights advocates as well as practitioners including young persons.

 

For more information about the conference, please visit www.africasexuality.org or to subscribe to the conference mailing list.    

 

Sincerely,

Nike O. Esiet,

Director, Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre