Toolbox on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and human rights

June 26, 2014

In many countries, laws, regulations and policies are not always consistent with human rights standards and may represent a barrier for people achieving the highest attainable standard of health. A new WHO toolbox on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) enables countries to use a human rights framework to identify those barriers and make proposals to overcome or reduce them.

 In addition, using the tool will help countries to:

  • recognize national human rights obligations related to RMNCH;
  • review and document efforts by governments to establish legal and policy frameworks that support RMNCH;
  • identify the most vulnerable groups and existing government efforts to address their needs;
  • engage actors from the health sector and non-health sectors to help eliminate legal, policy and regulatory barriers to RMNCH.

Download Reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and human rights: A toolbox for examining laws, regulations and policies, WHO, 2014 (PDF)