sex positions

REVEALED
BIG SEX
PICTURE
INSIDE

Sex…the bigger picture
Sex is a very personal matter. We think about it. We dream about it. We talk about it. We laugh
about it. We even do it (2.6 times a week on average in the UK
1).
But there’s a bigger picture too.
Sex – and its consequences – has a major impact on the lives and wellbeing of everyone
on the planet.
Sex is about contraception and couples’ ability to plan their families. Sex is about keeping
free of HIV/AIDS, chlamydia and other sexually transmitted infections. Sex is about safe pregnancy
and, if necessary, about safe abortion.
Sex is about not dying in childbirth.
In fact, poor sexual and reproductive health is one of the main causes of death and disability
across the world.Those hardest hit are women and children in the poorest countries.
In 1994 the governments of the world (including those in Europe) made a promise
to help bring sexual and reproductive health to everyone by 2015. Most have so far failed to
provide all the promised funding.
To make matters worse, strong political and ideological forces across Europe and the US are
working to reverse the progress that has already been made, denying people their right to sexual
and reproductive health and placing lives at risk.
We must act NOW to persuade governments to resist these forces and keep their promise
to bring sexual and reproductive health and rights to all.
1 Durex. 2003. Global Sex Survey.
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Get active: ‘Sex: what position will youadopt?’

SEX
FACTS
OF LIFE

…give birth in safe hands
Sexual and reproductive health means having access to health
services when you need them during pregnancy and childbirth.
In Africa, 60%
2of women give birth without the support of
trained midwives or in unsanitary conditions. This year, over
half a million women will die because of complications in
pregnancy or childbirth.
3Almost all of them will live in less
developed countries, where complications in pregnancy are
the leading cause of death and disability among women.
…have contraception when they need it
Globally, there is a massive shortage of affordable condoms
and other contraception. Around 350 million couples
worldwide want to plan their families, but are denied the
ability to do so through lack of contraception. Every US$1
million notspent on contraceptives results in 360,000 extra
unintended pregnancies, 150,000 additional induced
abortions and 800 more maternal deaths.
4
…be informed and take control
Sex education saves lives. But cuts in funding mean
that many vital sex education projects are under threat.
Comprehensive sex education programmes have been
shown to delay teenage sex. In the Netherlands, for example,
where young people have access to comprehensive sex
education, rates of underage pregnancies are among the
lowest in Europe.
5
…have access to safe abortion, where legal
The World Health Organisation estimates that 46 million
abortions take place globally every year. Of these, well
over 20 million are performed in unsafe, often unhygienic
conditions, in countries where abortion is legally restricted.
An estimated 68,000 women die each year from
botched abortions.
6
…stay infection free
Each year, an estimated 400 million people worldwide are
infected with a sexually transmitted infection. Every day,
13,000 new people get infected with HIV.
7In the UK,
new syphilis infections increased by 28% in 2003 and
new HIV infections by 20%.
8Sex education and a ready
supply of condoms are the two methods proven to work
best in the fight to prevent sexually transmitted infections.
…have their rights respected
In the UK and Europe we take for granted our right to
contraception and family planning. But around the world,
over 350 million women who would like to space their
families are denied access to contraceptives, resulting
in 80 million unplanned pregnancies per year.
9International
law, which guarantees access to condoms and related
HIV prevention services as part of the human right to the
highest attainable standards of health, is being consistently
undermined by the forces of political conservatism.
Poor sexual and reproductive health causes nearly one fifth of the
world’s disease and disability.
In 1994 the governments of the world made a landmark commitment to support
sexual and reproductive health. The goal was to make sure people worldwide could…
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Get active: ‘Sex: what position will youadopt?’
Lack of sexual and reproductive health and rights
condemns millions of people around the world to
a life of hunger, poverty and ill-health.
2 Population Research Bureau. 2002. Women of the World.
3 WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA. 2000. Maternal mortality in 2000: Estimates Developed by
WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA.
4 UNFPA. 2001. Reproductive Health Commodity Security: Partnerships for Change
– A Global Call to Action.
5 Economic Commission for Europe. 2003. The Statistical Yearbook of the Economic
Commission for Europe 2003.
6 WHO. 2004. Global and regional estimates of the incidence of unsafe abortion and
associated mortality in 2000.
7 UNAIDS. 2003.
8 UK Health Protection Agency.
9 UNFPA. 1997. State of World Population 1997.Alan Guttmacher Institute. 1999.
Sharing Responsibility: Women, Society and Abortion Worldwide.

FIDELITY
IS 35%
FAITHFUL OK?

The wealthy nations of the world agreed to donate one third of
the cost of a 20 year plan of action (which by 2015 is projected
to cost roughly US$22 billion a year). The remaining two thirds
would come from the developing countries themselves.
But fine words have not been backed