Maseru, Sept. 23 — Parliamentary Chair of Chairs, Mr. Mokhothu Makhalanyane says there is need for continuous dialogue on Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) issues and implementation of new strategies to overcome early pregnancies, child marriage, HIV/AIDS and Gender Based Violence (GBV).
These he said at a one day roundtable discussion which brought together the Social Cluster Committees, Pandemics, SDG and Monitoring Committees with the objective to amongst others, familiarise parliamentary committees with current intervention on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), HIV and GBV in schools, strengthen Parliament’s capacity to demand accountability from government on policy implementation as well as to support planning for targeted oversight visits to ensure meaningful outcomes.
Mr. Makhalanyane also emphasised the need to enact laws that promote access to quality SRH services, ensure allocation of adequate resources to support the SRH activities and that there is an oversight on the implementation of SRH activities which are already in place.
He further highlighted that the motto of Sustainable Development Goals (leaving no one behind) emphasises need to ensure women, girls and adolescent populations are not left behind while dealing with SRH, reminding that Parliaments have a number of commitments on SRH issues which include the Maputo plan of action, Southern African Development Community (SADC) SRH strategy and SDG three and five.
