This book, written in non-technical language, presents an overview of the work of the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research during the biennium 2004-2005. For the first time the work of the Department in both sexual and reproductive health research (that undertaken by the UNDP/UNFPA/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction - HRP) and programme development are presented in a consolidated report. There are seven chapters in the report. Chapter 1 looks at activities in the area of family planning, notably HRP's research on new products and safety and effectiveness of existing methods as well as social science research on the attitudes of sexually active couples to contraceptives and family planning services. Chapter 2 outlines activities aimed at improving maternal and perinatal health. Research in this area seeks to improve knowledge of the burden of leading causes of maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity and to generate evidence of the effectiveness of interventions to address these concerns. Work in the area of reproductive tract and sexually transmitted infections including HIV infection is described in Chapter 3. It includes HRP's studies on the acceptability and effectiveness of the female condom in preventing both pregnancy and transmission of infection as well as development of microbicidal products. HRP's work on unsafe abortion is described in Chapter 4. In addition to documenting the size of the problem of unsafe abortion and its associated mortality, HRP research aims to develop improved regimens for medical abortion and increasing the safety and availability of surgical abortion in countries where it is legally permitted. Chapter 5 describes the Department's work in the fields of gender equity reproductive rights and sexual health. Research in this field includes initiatives in the area of harmful sexual practices such as female genital mutilation and the field-testing of a human rights framework and policy-action tool. The Department's work to promote the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents is outlined in Chapter 6. It presents results of studies that have looked at how adolescents in different situations cope with unintended pregnancy or deal with attempts to coerce them to have sexual intercourse. Finally, Chapter 7 looks at the Department's technical cooperation activities with countries including its research capacity strengthening efforts.