NEWS RELEASE

Rebecca Wind
media@guttmacher.org

COMPOSITION OF THE GUTTMACHER-LANCET COMMISSION ANNOUNCED

Experts Will Identify Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Priorities for the Next 15 Years

The body of experts that will serve as commissioners on the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights was announced today. The 14 commissioners, recognized experts from an array of disciplines and geographic regions, will work with the Commission’s co-chairs, Ann Starrs, President and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, and Dr. Alex Ezeh, Executive Director of the African Population Health Research Center, to articulate a forward-looking and evidence-based vision for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) priorities worldwide over the next 15 years, and to encourage the adoption of policies and programs that will turn that vision into reality. In doing so, the Commission recognizes that the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include, but do not address the full scope of, SRHR.

The work of the Commission will encompass core SRHR issues such as contraceptive use, maternal and newborn health, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV; it will also focus on elements of SRHR that are often neglected or ignored, such as safe abortion services, nondiscrimination in access to SRH care based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and the need for high-quality, confidential and timely sexual and reproductive health services more broadly.

The 14 commissioners are:

• Dr. Gary Barker, International Director and founder, Promundo
• Dr. Robert Blum, William H. Gates Professor and Chair, Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Dr. Willard (Ward) Cates, President Emeritus, FHI 360
• Mr. Anand Grover, Director, HIV/AIDS Unit, Lawyers Collective of India and Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center
• Dr. Ilona Kickbusch, Director, Global Health Program and Adjunct Professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva
• Dr. Laura Laski, Chief, Sexual and Reproductive Health Branch, Technical Division, UNFPA
• Ms. Mónica Roa, Vice President of Strategy and External Relations, Women’s Link Worldwide
• Dr. Zeba Sathar, Director, Population Council Pakistan
• Dr. Lale Say, Coordinator, Adolescents and at-Risk Populations Team, World Health Organization
• Dr. Awa Marie Coll Seck, Minister of Health, Republic of Senegal
• Dr. Gamal Serour, Director, International Islamic Center for Population Studies and Research (IICPSR), Al Azhar University, Cairo
• Dr. Susheela Singh, Vice President for Research, Guttmacher Institute 
• Ms. Karin Stenberg, Health Economist, World Health Organization
• Dr. Marleen Temmerman, Director, Women’s Health & Research Network in East Africa, Aga Khan University, Nairobi

Their bios can be found here.

“The level and range of expertise of the commissioners will ensure that the work of the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission will be of the highest caliber,” said Ann Starrs, Guttmacher president and CEO and co-chair of the Commission. “It will provide a roadmap for truly addressing essential sexual and reproductive health and rights issues that are fundamental to achieving overall developmental goals.”

The Commission will draw on published topic-specific reports and articles, Lancet series and other resources, synthesizing available evidence to reflect global consensus on needs, gaps and promising approaches in regard to meeting SRH information and service needs; it will supplement these sources with new analyses as needed and feasible, to produce a set of technical background papers. Those findings will be interpreted and synthesized to develop a final Commission report, which will be submitted in 2017 to the Lancet for publication. Multiple launches and further dissemination efforts will continue well into 2018.