This minicourse is designed to provide a basic introduction to this topic and to help providers of reproductive health services incorporate a focus on sexuality into their services.

Sexuality has a major influence on what it means to be “reproductively healthy” and thus should be an integral aspect of reproductive health care. 

While the connections between sexuality and reproduction or family planning may seem obvious, reproductive health services have historically disassociated sexuality from reproduction. In recent years, there has been increasing recognition of the importance of paying attention to the context in which people make decisions about their health, including sexuality and gender influences. 

The importance of addressing sexuality has been brought to attention partly because of the HIV epidemic. Through addressing HIV/AIDS, providers have been confronted with the need to address clients’ sexuality, since it is clear that sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as HIV cannot be effectively addressed without addressing sexuality in a frank and direct way. Yet sexuality influences reproductive health in many ways beyond HIV.