TY - JOUR T1 - Defending frontline defenders of sexual and reproductive health rights: a call to action-oriented, human rights-based responses JF - BMJ Global Health JO - BMJ Global Health DO - 10.1136/bmjgh-2022-008867 VL - 7 IS - 4 SP - e008867 AU - Kathryn Gilmore AU - Victoria Boydell AU - International Planned Parenthood Federation AU - MSI Reproductive Choices AU - IPAS AU - International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetricians A2 - , Y1 - 2022/04/01 UR - http://gh.bmj.com/content/7/4/e008867.abstract N2 - The realities of the global COVID-19 pandemic have raised our shared awareness of healthcare providers, and the life-saving significance of their valiant efforts, specifically as they face dangers to their own well-being simply by performing their day-to-day jobs.1 The threats faced by healthcare workers caring for affected communities also surfaced in the Ebola outbreak a few years earlier and in the context of provision of other vaccines.2Safeguarding and protecting those who care for us, often during our hours of greatest need, is a matter of vital public interest. When the safety and well-being of health advocates and service providers are compromised, provision of care too is undermined. Yet, the abuse of those workers, of whom an estimated 67% are women,3 is found ‘throughout the industrialized world, as well as in developing and transitional countries, and affects health-care workers in nearly all work environments’.4 Some workers are shunned for providing services to stigmatised populations, such as sex workers or those living with HIV/AIDs or for providing services that are stigmatised, such as abortion care. Abuse of health workers may take the form of daily intimidation and harassment, or extend to overt violence, including sexual assault. With perhaps upwards of 70% of all workplace hostility occurring in the healthcare and social services sector,5 we know that frontline health workers and advocates, in particular those working for sexual and reproductive health (sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR)), are at significant risk. Recent international research finds that more than 60% of nurses and physicians report experience of abuse and intimidation related to their work.6 The actual rate may be much higher due to under-reporting.7Hostility directed against those on the frontlines of healthcare and advocacy is reportedly most often at the hands of ‘patients, their families, … ER -