2025 is a critical year for advancing gender equality and universal access to health as a human right. It marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Platform of Action, the 25th anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, and the review of progress of SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), and the SDG 5 (Gender Equality) at the High-Level Political Forum. These milestones offer an opportunity to examine the intersections between gender equality, human rights, universal access to health (especially sexual and reproductive health and rights), and the global HIV response. The issues that affect women and girls, impacting the realization of the 2030 Agenda For Sustainable Development (SDGs), and the overarching framework for advancing sustainable development are inextricably linked. They demand urgent, rights-based, and well-resourced interventions to close persistent gaps.
This report explores the progress toward gender equality (SDG 5) in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on how the HIV epidemic intersects with health (SDG3) and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). It highlights the persistent and disproportionate impact on women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals, whose vulnerabilities are exacerbated by structural inequalities. Despite international targets and national commitments, gaps remain in legal frameworks, policy implementation, and the meaningful participation of affected communities. The analysis reveals how criminalizing laws, restrictive bodily autonomy, shrinking civic space and an inadequately-funded civic space continue to undermine public health efforts, the advancement of gender equality, and human rights. Furthermore, critical dimensions – such as access to services, comprehensive sexuality education, the disproportionate burden of unpaid care work, and the persistent effects of stigma – are either overlooked or inadequately addressed.
This report underscores the urgent need for a transformative shift: a move from ineffective policies to dismantling discriminatory laws, ensuring comprehensive and integrated services, and investing in leadership and inclusive accountability mechanisms. This paper draws on feminist, community-led data from 11 African countries—Botswana, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Uganda, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, and Tanzania—to assess national progress toward achieving SDG 5, to some extent SDG 3, and their centrality to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It examines the legal, structural, and systemic barriers that continue to undermine gender equality and offers rights-based, inclusive strategies to accelerate transformative change.