Ensuring universal access to sexual health and reproductive rights is a key priority for UNFPA's work in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Since the early 1990s, the number – and rate – of women dying from pregnancy or childbirth has more than halved in the region. Women are better able to plan when to have children – and how many. But not everyone has benefitted equally from this progress. Young people, the poor, illiterate women, ethnic minorities, and members of migrant, mobile populations and rural population groups still face serious barriers in accessing the services and information they need to safeguard their health. Much more needs to be done to end preventable deaths and morbidity among women of reproductive age and to ensure that all individuals can exercise their basic human rights, including those related to the most intimate and fundamental aspects of life.

This publication provides a brief overview of the key issues of concern regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, UNFPA's work in the region, and priorities for the future.