Addressing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in a Time of Crisis: Intergenerational Solidarity and Cross-Sector Partnerships

In this moment, when the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) is under continuous political and ideological attack, the need for partnership has never been greater. Attacks on rights, on health, on services, and on people are not only stagnating progress, but destroying programs, halting research funding, and putting people at grave risk. This is clearly not occurring in isolation, but at a moment of increased conflict and polarization across the world, rising economic and social inequalities, and growing challenges to geopolitical stability. Increasing efforts to work across generations, sectors and issues suggests that aligning on basic core principles, including a commitment to rights, equality and justice, can make a difference. To truly promote and protect sexual and reproductive health and rights in this moment will require a radical re-shift in how work is done, including moving beyond traditional siloes to work together most effectively.

Throughout the 2025-2026 academic year, the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health is hosting conversations about the implications of the current moment for large-scale and multi-country partnerships – across a range of issue areas. This event will focus on key SRHR topics – including comprehensive sexuality education, reproductive rights, access to contraception, family planning, and healthy sexuality across the life-course. Uplifting often unexplored efforts towards intergenerational solidarity and partnership, together we will discuss the current moment in SRHR and ask how best to foster intergenerational partnerships to address the current moment, and, by extension, how academia, government, multilateral institutions, philanthropy, corporations, and NGOs can best engage in and support innovative partnerships that go beyond what has been done before.

This virtual event, “Addressing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in a Time of Crisis: Intergenerational Solidarity and Cross-Sector Partnerships,” the second in our research partnership series, will take place on Wednesday, October 22, at 9:00 am PDT/12:00 pm EDT/6:00 pm CEST.

The dialogue will be moderated by IIGH Director Sofia Gruskin.

The webinar is hosted by the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health.

Please join us on Wednesday, October 22, at 9:00 am PDT/12:00 pm EDT/6:00 pm CEST.

This program is open to all eligible individuals. IIGH operates all of its programs and activities consistent with the University’s Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.

Speakers:

Amos Mwale has over 20 years of work experience in advocacy, management and leadership capacity building in youth development and sexual reproductive health sectors. Amos is recognized as an emerging global leader in the field of sexual and reproductive health, HIV and family planning. He has served in middle and senior management positions, with areas of focus including strategic planning, change management, organizational development and behavior and social change communication. Amos previously served as Executive Director of Youth Vision Zambia and was one of the key members that developed the FP 2020/ 2030 Plan for Zambia. He co-chaired and served on the IPPFARO Reproductive Health Advocacy Network Africa (RHANA) as an advocacy lead. He is a very active member of several National Technical Working Groups and Technical Committees at the Ministry of Health and a member of the Zambian delegation to the annual UN Commission for Population and Development (CPD) meeting. Currently, he is also a Civil Society representative on the GFF Investors Group.

Onikepe Owolabi is Guttmacher’s Vice President for International Research. Prior to assuming this role in 2025, she served as Guttmacher’s Director of International Research. Past positions include Senior Global Director for Maternal, Newborn, Child Health and Family Planning at IntraHealth International and Senior Research Scientist at Guttmacher, which she held from 2016 to 2021. Her research at that time focused primarily on abortion and maternal morbidity measurement and the quality of sexual and reproductive health care within health systems. Onikepe has research and programmatic experience in maternal and reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia and has authored or coauthored more than 50 peer-reviewed and other scientific publications. Onikepe completed her medical degree at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, her master’s degree in global health at the University of Oxford and her PhD at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She was also part of the 2022 US Cohort of the WomenLiftHealth Leadership Journey, an experiential, results-driven fellowship for mid- to senior-career women in health whose work serve target populations in low- and middle-income countries.

Rajat Khosla is the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health Executive Director, taking his post in May 2024. He most recently served as Director of the United Nations International Institute on Global Health (UNU-IIGH). He works on women, children and adolescent health through the intersections of research, policy, and practice. Over the last twenty years his work has focused on global health and inequalities, sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality and health equity. He has published widely in academic journals and writes regularly on these issues. He has previously worked at the World Health Organisation and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights where his work focused on research and normative development including with respect to: implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals related in particular to issues related to sexual and reproductive health; policy guidance  and legal analysis; and development of policy frameworks on the integration of women’s rights and health in humanitarian emergencies. Previously he served in a variety of research and policy roles with civil society organizations and think tanks such as the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, and the International Environmental Law Research Centre, among others. He has also advised numerous organizations such as UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA on issues related to women, children and adolescent health. He is an Adjunct Research Professor at the University of Southern California Institute on Inequalities in Global Health and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Essex Human Rights Centre. His current affiliations include membership of the UNU-IIGH Gender and Health Hub High-level Advisory Committee. He is an alumna of University of Delhi and University of Essex.

Becca Reisdorf is a Senior Global Advocacy Officer for the Latin America and Caribbean region at Fòs Feminista since October 2023. Prior to this Becca worked at Women in Global Health, first as a founding member of the Chile chapter and then as Policy Associate, where she coordinated a multi-country initiative to advance gender equity in the health workforce and engaged with multilateral processes at the United Nations in Geneva and New York to ensure gender-responsive pandemic preparedness and response. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Becca advocated against period poverty and co-authored a draft law to ensure gender-responsive global health security policies with the Chilean Senate. Becca is pursuing a Master of Science in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and holds a Bachelor's degree in Global Public Health from Leiden University College the Hague.

Moderator:

Sofia Gruskin directs the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health (IIGH). She is USC Distinguished Professor of Population, Public Health Sciences & Law, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Chief of the Disease Prevention, Policy and Global Health Division at the Keck School of Medicine, and Professor of Law and Preventive Medicine at the Gould School of Law. She has published extensively, including several books, training manuals and edited journal volumes, and more than 200 articles and chapters.