Indicator 5.6.2 Number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education

Indicator 5.6.2: Number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education

Target 5.6: Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Definition:

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 5.6.2 seeks to measure the extent to which countries have national laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information, and education.

The indicator is a percentage (%) scale of 0 to 100 (national laws and regulations exist to guarantee full and equal access), indicating a country’s status and progress in the existence of such National laws and regulations. Indicator 5.6.2 measures only the existence of laws and regulations; it does not measure their implementation.

Concepts:

Laws: laws and statutes are official rules of conduct or action prescribed, or formally recognized as binding, or enforced by a controlling authority that governs the behavior of actors (including people, corporations, associations, government agencies). They are adopted or ratified by the legislative branch of government and may be formally recognized in the Constitution or interpreted by courts. Laws governing sexual and reproductive health are not necessarily contained in one law.

Regulations: are executive, ministerial, or other administrative orders or decrees. At the municipal level, regulations are sometimes called ordinances. Regulations and ordinances issued by governmental entities have the force of law, although circumscribed by the level of the issuing authority. Under this methodology, only regulations with the national-level application are considered.

Restrictions: many laws and regulations contain restrictions in the scope of their applicability. Such restrictions, which include, though are not limited to, those by age, sex, marital status, and requirement for third party authorization, represent barriers to full and equal access to sexual and reproductive health care, information, and education.

Plural legal systems: are defined as legal systems in which multiple sources of law co-exist. Such legal systems have typically developed over a period because of colonial inheritance, religion, and other socio-cultural factors. Examples of sources of law that might co-exist under a plural legal system include English common law, French civil or other law, statutory law, and customary and religious law. The co-existence of multiple sources of law can create fundamental contradictions in the legal system, which result in barriers to full and equal access to sexual and reproductive health care, information, and education.

“Guarantee” (access): for this methodology, “guarantee” is understood as a law or regulation that assures a particular outcome or condition. The methodology recognizes that laws can only guarantee “in principle”; for the outcomes to be fully realized in practice, additional steps, including policy and budgetary measures will need to be in place.

Percent (%)

Indicator 5.6.2 is calculated based on official government responses collected through the United Nations Inquiry among Governments on Population and Development. The Inquiry has been conducted since 1963. All questions required for indicator 5.6.2 are integrated into Module II on fertility, family planning, and reproductive health of the Inquiry.

Data will be provided by relevant government ministries, departments and agencies.

Indicator 5.6.2 measures exclusively the existence of laws and regulations and their barriers. It does not measure the implementation of such laws/regulations. In addition, the 13 components are intended to be indicative of sexual and reproductive health care, information, and education, instead of a complete or exhaustive list of the care, information, and education. These components were selected because they were identified as key parameters according to international consensus documents and human rights standards.

The indicator measures specific legal enablers and barriers for 13 components across four sections. The calculation of the indicator requires data for all 13 components.

The 13 components are placed on the same scale, with 0% being the lowest value and 100% being the most optimal value. Each component is calculated independently and weighted equally. Each component is calculated as:

$Ci=\left(\frac{ei}{Ei}-\frac{bi}{Bi}\right)\mathrm{\ }\times 100$

where;

$Ci$: Data for component i

$Ei$: Total number of enablers in component i

$ei$: Number of enablers that exist in component i

$Bi$: Total number of barriers in component i

$bi$: Number of barriers that exist in component i

As legal barriers are not deemed applicable for C2: life-saving commodities and C9: CSE curriculum, they are calculated as:

$Ci=\frac{ei}{Ei}\mathrm{\ }\times 100$

where;

$Ci$: Data for component i

$Ei$: Total number of enablers in component i

$ei$: Number of enablers that exist in component i

In addition, as C3: Abortion collects information on four types of legal ground (to save a woman’s life, to preserve a woman’s health, in cases of rape, and in cases of fetal impairment), and that the legal barriers apply to each type, it is calculated as:

$Ci=\frac{ei}{Ei}\mathrm{\ }(1-\frac{bi}{Bi})\times 100$

where;

$Ci$: Data for component i

$Ei$: Total number of enablers in component i

$ei$: Number of enablers that exist in component i

$Bi$: Total number of barriers in component i

$bi$: Number of barriers that exist in component i

Value for Indicator 5.6.2 is calculated as the arithmetic mean of the 13-component data. Similarly, the value for each section is calculated as the arithmetic mean of its constituent component data.

2024-07-29

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Indicator 3.1.1: Maternal mortality ratio

Indicator 3.1.2: Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

Indicator 3.3.1: Number of new HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population, by sex, age and key populations

Indicator 3.7.1: Proportion of women of reproductive age (aged 15–49 years) who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods

Indicator 3.7.2: Adolescent birth rate (aged 10–14 years; aged 15–19 years) per 1,000 women in that age group

Indicator 5.2.1: Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by form of violence and by age

Indicator 5.6.1: Proportion of women aged 15-49 years who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care.

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