Sexual health and human rights: protecting rights to promote health

Where sexual health refers to “a state of physical, mental, and social well-being in relation to sexuality,” human rights provide a path to realise the highest attainable standard of sexual health for all. Jonathan Mann first described the fundamental relationship between sexual health and human rights in the early years of the global AIDS response. He traced the arc between rights abuses and HIV transmission and provided a path to see sexual health and human rights as inextricably linked. The close interrelationships between sexual health and human rights led to the development of an evidence-based but rights-affirming approach to sexual health, abandoning coercive tools of public health, reducing stigma and discrimination toward key populations, and focusing on the social determinants of sexually transmitted infections (STI). Sexual health is thus seen as deeply embedded in the social and structural fabric of societies, with rights-based implications for epidemiology, intervention design, behavioral science, harm reduction, and laws and regulations governing health. Yet, many evidence-based STI interventions are unavailable because those at greatest risk hide their lives and sexual desires and practices from clinics and services. This BMC special collection focuses on the critical nexus of sexual health and human rights