Chiredzi, Zimbabwe - Prisca,* a 22-year-old young woman who lives in Chiredzi Rural, Zambia, has faced a harrowing ordeal. One night, while asleep in a room with two toddlers, an unknown man broke into her family home. What followed was a terrifying struggle for survival.

Canada supports the goal of ensuring that women and girls in all their diversity can decide what to do with their bodies, their lives and their futures – without question.  Sexual and reproductive health is a precondition for women’s empowerment and a crucial link to all aspects of development.   This is why Canada is a lead donor globally supporting comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights as key elem...

The ICPD fits hand in glove with many of our key national strategies such as the National Development Strategy (NDS 1) and National Health Strategy. It calls for women’s reproductive health and rights to take centre stage in national and global development efforts. It also recognizes that reproductive health and women’s empowerment are intertwined, and that both are necessary for the advancement of our society.