Sweden
Country Profile
Sweden is one of the largest donors (ODA 0.98% of BNI) with a strong political commitment to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). SRHR has also been a thematic priority for the Swedish development cooperation since 2004.
Sweden has an international policy for sexual and reproductive health and rights (2006) that includes focus areas such as access to contraceptives and maternal health care services. Furthermore, in the Policy for Gender Equality (2010), the Swedish government highlights SRHR, including reproductive health and contraceptives, as one out of three priorities. SRHR is also mentioned in 14 out of 32 country/regional strategies for developing countries.
As a general rule the Foreign Ministry and Sida, do not give any thematic budget lines to indicate spending, since the budget is organized geographically. However, exceptions do sometimes occur and for 2011 the Swedish Government added 500 million SEK to the budget, thematically earmarked to support children and young people´s health and rights. This includes efforts directed to MDG 2,4,5 poverty reduction, health, education, democracy, human rights and gender equality.
Even though the Swedish Government has been a strong supporter of SRHR throughout the years both in terms of politics and policies, the financial commitment to SRHR has in fact decreased. According to what Sweden has reported to OECD-DAC, the financial SRHR support decreased with almost 2% from 2006-2010.
Key Documents
- Global challenges – our responsibility, Communication on Sweden’s policy for global development
- Sweden’s international policy on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
- On Equal Footing Policy for Gender Equality and the Rights and Role of Women
- Dialogue for Change. Reference materials in support of policy dialouge on sexual and reproductive health and rights (2010)
- Overview sexual rights – brochure by Sida (2010)
