Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for the question; it is an important one. It was important to focus on reducing maternal, child and newborn deaths and improve their health. However, we recognize that much of this work can only be done when we support women's autonomy over their body, over their right to choose, and the fact that they also need to have access to sexual health and reproductive health rights and services.
When we were elected in 2015, we were elected with a mandate to ensure that Canada's international assistance provided this support. In 2016, the Prime Minister announced the “her voice, her choice” initiative, which contributed $650 million to sexual health and reproductive rights.
That was further elaborated on in 2019 at the Women Deliver summit in Vancouver, where Canada made the $1.4-billion-per-year Thrive commitment. Half of our support will go to SRHR, sexual and reproductive health and rights, with a particular focus on the neglected areas, recognizing that it is an imperative development outcome to ensure that women's rights are fully achieved and that they have full autonomy over their bodies.