Human rights as a framework for eliminating female genital schistosomiasis

by Caitlin R. Williams, Maximillian Seunik, Benjamin Mason Meier

Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) affects tens of millions of women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, yet this inequitable threat is often overlooked by advocates in both the neglected tropical disease (NTD) and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) communities. FGS causes both acute infection and long-term sexual and reproductive health harm to marginalized women and girls, with gender, poverty, and rurality combining to invisibilize the disease. Human rights and gender imperatives can help to galvanize efforts to control and eliminate FGS, as they have for other NTDs. Specifically, international human rights obligations can frame state efforts to address FGS across healthcare settings, upstream social determinants of health, scientific research, and policy implementation. This article analyzes human rights–based approaches to FGS control and elimination efforts, outlining several areas for forward-looking reforms to health policy, programing, and practice. Building from the lessons learned in applying human rights–based approaches to advance progress on other NTDs, this analysis seeks to provide the NTD community with shared understanding around international legal obligations to engage SRHR advocates and draw heightened attention to FGS. Such human rights–based approaches to FGS control and elimination can help to reduce stigma and improve care for the millions of women and girls currently affected by this preventable disease.