Reproductive and Sexual Health: Addressing Understudied Areas in Public Health and Primary Care

Dear Colleagues,

Both reproductive and sexual health are fundamental to individual well-being and societal health, yet these areas remain significantly understudied and are often marginalized within public health and primary care research. Limited knowledge and research in this domain hinder the development of relevant effective interventions and perpetuate health disparities.

This Special Issue seeks to address this critical gap by bringing together the perspectives of researchers and experts when it comes to understudied aspects of reproductive and/or sexual health in public health and primary care. This Special Issue in Healthcare provides a platform for disseminating reliable and comprehensive information about sexual health to a broad audience, including healthcare professionals, researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

We are delighted to serve as the editors for this Special Issue, which is titled “Reproductive and Sexual Health: Addressing Understudied Areas in Public Health and Primary Care”. We invite submissions of original research articles, as well as of reviews, including systematic reviews, meta-analyses, scoping reviews, narrative reviews, and rapid reviews.

Aims and Scope

This Special Issue aims to accomplish the following goals:

• Investigate the prevalence, determinants, and consequences of reproductive and/or sexual health issues in diverse populations.
• Explore and evaluate innovative approaches to promoting reproductive and/or sexual health, including prevention strategies, health education programs, and clinical interventions.
• Examine the social, economic, and cultural factors contributing to disparities in reproductive and/or sexual access and outcomes, particularly in vulnerable and marginalized communities.
• Provide evidence-based recommendations for improving reproductive and/or sexual health services, integrating these into primary care, and developing effective public health policies.
• Create a forum for researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and community stakeholders to share knowledge, collaborate on research initiatives, and translate research findings into practice.

Potential Topics

Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Reproductive and/or sexual health integration in primary care settings.
• Health promotion and education strategies for diverse populations regarding reproductive and/or sexual health.
• Public health interventions to prevent sexually transmitted infections and promote sexual well-being.
• Female reproductive and sexual health across lifespan [e.g., maternal health/care, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, menopause, cancer, and infertility).
• Male reproductive and/or sexual health (e.g., infertility, erectile dysfunction).
• Reproductive and/or sexual health disparities and needs of under-served groups, including LGBTQ+ individuals and ethnic minority groups (examples of this can be found at www.nihr.ac.uk/improving-inclusion-under-served-groups-clinical-research-guidance-include-project).
• Sexualized drug use and its impact on physical and mental health, and social functioning.
• The impact of reproductive and/or sexual health on quality of life and/or mental health.
• High-risk sexual behaviors and their impact on reproductive and/or sexual health (e.g., sexualized drug use and its impact on physical and mental health, and social functioning).
• Access to and utilization of reproductive and/or sexual services, including contraception and abortion care.
• The role of technology (e.g., AI) in improving reproductive and/or sexual health.
• Ethical, legal, and social aspects/implications in reproductive and/or sexual health (e.g., surrogacy and the experiences of surrogate mothers, intended parents, and children born through surrogacy).

Dr. Harpal S. Randeva
Dr. Chris Kite
Dr. Alexander Dallaway
Guest Editors

Dr. Lukasz Lagojda
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• prevention
• reproductive health
• sexual health
• public health
• primary care
• health disparities
• health inequalities