Both Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) are central to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and specifically in SDG 3 on healthy living and SDG 5 on gender equality. The integration of SRHR within UHC national plans is essential, and both SRHR and UHC are mutually reinforcing. However, there is limited evidence available on what has worked to enable this integration, what needs to be done and what are the challenges to include SRH services within national plans, policies and processes for UHC.
The primary purpose of the research project is to inform a handbook on the inclusion of SRH services in National Plans and processes for UHC, drawing on countries’ experiences. Malaysia was selected as one of the case studies, given its significant investment in the health system and resulting achievements in health outcomes, especially the reduction in maternal mortality and remarkable progress towards UHC. The case study will explore and analyse what measures have been taken by Malaysia to expand universal coverage of various SRH services through health policy and systems analysis and identify the historical, political, legal, socio-economic and cultural factors that have enabled progress and lessons learned for other countries.