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Gender Equity in Reproductive Health Service Access

Edited by:

Christiana Alake ALEX-OJEI, PhD, Federal University Oye Ekiti, Nigeria

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 31 March 2025
 

Reproductive Health is calling for submissions to our Collection on Gender Equity in Reproductive Health Service Access. Healthcare access is important in ensuring the attainment of the Third Sustainable Goal (SDG3) by 2030. Access to reproductive healthcare services, which enables persons to live their lives to the fullest and enjoy safe and satisfying sex lives is a vital component of total health. However, access to these services differs by gender, with men and women across the globe having unequal access to the necessary information and services they require to enjoy total wellbeing, satisfactory sex lives, protection from sexually transmitted infections, prevention of unwanted pregnancies, and the treatment of infertility. The known reasons behind this unequal access range from social and cultural to economic reasons. For instance, lessened decision-making and financial autonomy for women may restrict their access to timely and effective reproductive healthcare services necessary for treatment and prevention of adverse health outcomes. On the other hand, even men may have restricted access to services due to cultural and time constraints. This collection will provide an avenue to researchers with interest in the intersection between gender and reproductive health access, as well as reproductive health and rights to present their research for maximum visibility. The collection is welcoming contributions such as original research articles using quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method designs, scoping and systematic reviews, policy analyses, case studies, meta-analyses, and commentaries. Contributors are encouraged to present policy-relevant recommendations and points of action for program implementers. Articles and other contributions to the collection should focus on, but are not restricted to the following areas:

Socioeconomic and cultural barriers to reproductive healthcare service access in low-, middle-, and high-income settings: this is to examine the barriers to reproductive healthcare access in a wide variety of contexts.

Gender-specific barriers to reproductive healthcare access: this is to examine the factors that restrict persons, irrespective of gender to reproductive healthcare access.

Reproductive health policy in all contexts: this is to examine policies on reproductive health access from low-, middle-, or high-income countries, investigating how they encourage healthcare access for all population groups, and suggesting changes where necessary for effective service delivery and access.

Reproductive healthcare service delivery models: this is to investigate the workings of current models of reproductive healthcare service delivery, evaluate them, and make recommendations for improvement where necessary.

Intervention programmes on improving service delivery and access for underserved population subgroups: this will be to examine intervention programmes designed to improve service access for previously underserved populations, and to examine their effect, if any, on making reproductive healthcare services more accessible.

Image credit: © champja / Getty Images / iStock

New Content ItemThis Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3 & 5: Good health and well-being & Gender equality.

Meet the Guest Editor

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Christiana Alake ALEX-OJEI, PhD, Federal University Oye Ekiti, Nigeria

Christiana A. Alex-Ojei is a demographer and social researcher with 9 years of experience in teaching and social, demographic and health research. Her research interests include maternal and child health, adolescent health as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights. Dr. Alex-Ojei has won several research grants with organisations such as the Educational Research Network in West and Central Africa, the USAID/ICF DHS Fellows Program, and the Royal Society of Tropical Medical and Hygiene, UK. She is currently a lecturer at the Department of Demography and Social Statistics, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria, where she teaches and mentors both undergraduate and postgraduate students. She has experience in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research, as well as in the use of quantitative and qualitative data analysis. She has also supervised, mentored and examined postgraduate research students at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

There are currently no articles in this collection.

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original research articles using quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method designs, scoping and systematic reviews, policy analyses, case studies, meta-analyses, and commentaries. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. 

Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. Please, select the appropriate Collection title “Gender Equity in Reproductive Health Service Access" under the “Details” tab during the submission stage.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer-review process. The peer-review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.