Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, members.
We appreciate the opportunity and the invitation today to provide information on how Global Affairs Canada supports women's sexual and reproductive health and rights globally.
As my colleague, Assistant Deputy Minister Peter MacDougall, said at the committee's December meeting, Canada has committed to increasing its funding to an average of $1.4 billion per year by 2023‑24. It also committed to maintain this level of funding until 2030 to support the health and rights of women and girls around the world.
Of this total funding, $700 million is to promote global sexual and reproductive health and rights. The focus will be on areas of sexual and reproductive health and rights that are too often neglected by international donors.
These neglected areas include: first, family planning and contraception; second, safe and legal abortion services and post-abortion care; third, comprehensive sexuality education; fourth, health promotion activities and reproductive rights; and fifth, prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence.
This 10-year commitment to global health and rights is unprecedented in its scope and length for Global Affairs Canada, and it's something that Canadians should be particularly proud of because of how it builds on more than a decade of successful maternal and child health work, and because the need for global leadership on these issues remains acute.
Extensive input from Canadian and international experts and partners in 2016-17 during the development of Canada's feminist international assistance policy, combined with scientific and programmatic evidence outlined in the 2018 Guttmacher-Lancet Commission as well as other studies, reinforced how investments in comprehensive SRHR are critical for advancing sustainable development goals, promoting gender equality and ensuring economic prosperity. This evidence informed the development of the health and SRHR action areas of the feminist international assistance policy and the subsequent programming we have been undertaking since.
Canada is making good progress in meeting its existing commitments. In 2020‑2021, Canada contributed $489 million to support initiatives related to sexual and reproductive health and rights, or SRHR. This funding directly reached over 4.5 million people with sexual and reproductive health services in 29 countries.
I look forward to your questions and to sharing more about the work that Canada is undertaking in this space.
Thank you.