Each year on September 4, World Sexual Health Day invites governments, health experts, educators, and individuals to reflect on how sexual health shapes our overall well-being. In 2025, the observance comes with renewed urgency. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations’ Special Programme in Human Reproduction (HRP) emphasize that sexuality is not only a private matter but also a public health priority, one tied deeply to dignity, equity, and human rights.

The 2025 theme, "Sexual Justice: What Can We Do?", places responsibility in the hands of societies and individuals and challenges us to reimagine a world where sexual health and rights are not privileges but the integral elements of daily health.

Sexual health has traditionally been described by WHO as a state of physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being in sexual matters—not just the absence of disease. However, in reality, international public health policies have tended to emphasize risks, infection, and ill effects. This disconnect between definition and practice results in much everyday sexual health issues—pleasure, empowerment, equality—not being included in the discussion.

World Sexual Health Day aims to close that gap. It is not merely about decreasing infection or avoiding unwanted pregnancy but about allowing individuals to have positive, safe, and stigma-free experiences of sexuality.

World Sexual Health Day 2025 Theme: Sexual Justice, Sexual Justice: What Can We Do?

This year's theme is sexual justice, which is present when everyone—regardless of gender, age, sexual orientation, or social origin—is empowered, free, and equipped with the means to make informed choices about their bodies and sexual lives. This focus is divided into four main areas:

Sexual Rights: Preventing individuals from discrimination, stigma, and shame, and ensuring there is dignity in all sexual choices.

Sexual and Reproductive Rights: Protecting body autonomy and reproductive freedom.

LGBTQ+ Youth: Respecting the rights, identities, and interests of gender-diverse and sexual-minority youth, who are among the most at-risk populations in the world.

Access to Information: Ensuring sexual health education is accurate, evidence-based, and uncensored.

Cumulatively, these priority areas represent a worldwide commitment to removing obstacles that impede people from realizing complete sexual well-being.

Last year, WHO and HRP pushed forward priority research initiatives that define sexual health and sexual behavior on a global level.

Pleasure-focused communication campaigns: A systematic review of 29 HIV campaigns revealed that emphasizing pleasure—instead of fear or stigma—enhanced knowledge, increased condom use, and stimulated HIV testing. This is a paradigm shift: fun and empowerment are catalysts for safer sex behaviors.

Global research priorities for STIs: WHO had 40 areas for further research, including diagnosis, management, and prevention. These priorities are expected to direct researchers and policymakers in solidifying global STI control as antibiotic resistance makes it more challenging to treat.

Monitoring sexual health outcomes: Instruments such as the Sexual Health Assessment of Practices and Experiences (SHAPE) questionnaire are assisting countries in collecting data on sexual health practices and requirements, for which there is an evidence base to support improving policy. These observations bring a deeper truth into focus: sexual health is not merely preventing illness but promoting rights, empowerment, and pleasure as part of well-being.

Four Pillars of a Public Health Approach to Sexual Wellness

Researchers now propose a four-pillar model that recognizes the entire range of sexuality:

Sexual Health: Focusing on fertility, prevention of sexually transmitted infections (including HIV), prevention of sexual violence, and sexual functioning.

Sexual Pleasure: Identifying consent, safety, trust, and communication as facilitators for satisfaction and well-being.

Sexual Justice: Providing fair, inclusive, and rights-based access to sexual and reproductive health services.

Sexual Well-being: Embracing sexuality as a sign of health equity and a measure of general well-being, not just confining it to risks or dysfunctions.

These pillars in concert move sexual health policy away from a deficit-based approach towards one centered on equity, resilience, and empowerment.

Sexual health is not a specialty concern. It overlaps with human rights, social justice, and even ecological sustainability. To illustrate, the ecological footprint of menstrual hygiene materials has become a compelling concern, tying sexual health to wider environmental discussions. In the same vein, harmful gender norms and violence against women and LGBTQ+ are public health emergencies with spillover consequences to families, communities, and economies.

For countries, investing in sexual health translates to lower costs for health care, avoidance of long-term illness that comes from letting infections go untreated, and healthier, more resilient populations. For human beings, it translates to living with less fear, shame, and obstacles to intimacy and pleasure.

What You Can Do To Make Sexual Wellness Everyday Health?

World Sexual Health Day 2025 is not just about institutional reforms—it’s also about what individuals can do daily to support their own sexual well-being. Experts recommend:

Prioritize Intimacy

Carving out time for intimacy can be as important as scheduling exercise or meals. Reducing distractions and allowing space for relaxation can strengthen desire and connection.

Cultivate a Positive Mindset

Practice sex positivity—embracing that consensual sex is healthy and worth it—deconstructs guilt and shame. This attitude change can enhance enjoyment and emotional connection.

Support Physical Health

Physical activity increases blood flow and endurance, while sufficient sleep balances hormone levels. Both directly influence sexual function and desire.

Use Resources Wisely

From lubricants to medicinally approved aphrodisiacs, small instruments can reduce pain and increase pleasure. Overcoming physical obstacles like vaginal dryness or erectile dysfunction is part of self-care.

Practice Mindfulness

Attentive focus while being intimate allows for connection and increases pleasure. Yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises can reduce distraction and worry and create space for more satisfying experiences.

Sexual health is inseparable from overall well-being. World Sexual Health Day 2025’s focus on Sexual Justice reframes the conversation around rights, equity, and inclusivity, while inviting individuals to integrate sexual wellness into their daily health routines.

By treating sexual health as everyday health through policy, education, and personal practice we move closer to a future where sexuality is experienced with dignity, safety, and joy.

Sick days are again piling up with a respiratory disease, not COVID-19 or the flu. This disease is most likely the one Americans have not heard of. This is HMPV or human metapneumovirus. Doctors have asked people to stay vigilant as seasonal flu virus could lead to pneumonia and bronchitis, and it is spreading in California wastewater and around the country. However, as per public health officials, there is nothing to get worried at this point.

As per the public database WasterwaterScan Dashboard, high levels of HMPV were detected across Northern California cities. The highest levels were reported in Redwood City, whereas elevated levels were found in San Francisco Bay Area and Napa's Wine Country. What's more dangerous is that this virus is without a vaccine.

The good news is that in other parts of country HMPV remains lower. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that data from October 2025 shows the cases are trending up, especially during winter and spring.

Dr. Matthew Binnicker, director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic, as reported by The Independent said, "In the late winter, early spring, it can account for five percent to 10 percent of all the respiratory infections that we diagnose in the United States. So it's definitely out there." Experts explain that other viruses like HMPV or influenza get a chance when COVID is quieter.

Read: HMPV Virus Cases Surging In California, New Jersey: Is It Dangerous?

Virus Without A Vaccine: What Is HMPV?

HMPV was first discovered in 2001 and is part of the Pneumoviridae family along with the Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

HMPV most likely spreads from an infected person to others through:

• the air by coughing and sneezing
• close personal contact, such as touching or shaking hands
• touching objects or surfaces that have the viruses on them, then touching the mouth, nose, or eyes

In the US, HMPV circulates in predictable patterns each year, typically beginning in winter and lasting through spring.

The usually self-limiting and mild symptoms typically last 4 to 5 days. These include:

• cough
• fever
• nasal congestion
• shortness of breath

People at risk include:

• elderly people
• children
• people with comorbidities

"The HMPV is not deadly, and there is no evidence of mortality or a severe transmission rate," former Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) scientist, Dr. Raman Gangakhedkar, told IANS, during the virus's outbreak in India in 2025.

“The virus may cause pneumonitis-like illness, but the mortality rates are almost unknown so far. HMPV has a global prevalence of about 4 per cent,” he added.

While no vaccine or treatment can prevent HMPV infection, to avoid the infection, individuals must:

Practice good hygiene and cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, or use your elbow, not your hands, for it. And wash your hands properly, especially in healthcare settings.

Why Are People Hearing About The Virus Without Vaccine Now?

The reason people have not heard about it before is because its symptoms are nearly indistinguishable from other respiratory infections, so often it could go undiagnosed. Furthermore, earlier the COVID cases and influenza cases sparked up, which deviated the attention from HMPV. Now, with the season gone, and increased awareness around respiratory illnesses, greater attention to viruses like HMPV is also paid.

One in seven Indians, or over 14 percent of the population, suffers from some form of mental health disorder. Amid an increasing treatment gap -- up to 90 percent -- seen in several states, especially in North India, the government today reiterated the plan of launching a second National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in the northern states.

NIMHANS-2 was first announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the Union Budget 2026-27, to deliver specialized care for mental health and neurological disorders in north India.

Health experts and policymakers, as part of the government-led Post-Budget Webinar series, highlighted the growing burden of mental and neurological disorders in India and also stressed the urgent need to strengthen institutional capacity to meet emerging healthcare demands.

"One in seven Indians is affected by mental health disorders, while several states continue to face a treatment gap ranging from 70 to 90 percent," the experts said.

Noting that Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) account for over 60 percent of deaths in the country, they added that "neurological and mental health conditions are among the leading contributors to disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)," among the citizens.

Need For Tertiary Neuro-psychiatric Care

To address these, the experts called for ramping up tertiary mental health institutions and expanding specialized services.

The session, moderated by Vijay Nehra, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, highlighted that North India currently lacks adequate tertiary neuro-psychiatric care facilities. These include areas such as:

• advanced neuroimaging,
• neurocritical care,
• specialized neurological services

Further, making a virtual address at the Post-Budget Webinar, Union Health Minister JP Nadda also highlighted the government’s focus on strengthening mental healthcare services in the country.

"NIMHANS-2 will be established in North India to expand advanced clinical care, training, and research," Nadda said.

"In addition, the Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, and the Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health, Tezpur, will be upgraded as regional apex institutions to strengthen mental healthcare services in the eastern and north-eastern regions," he added.

Meanwhile, the experts also stressed the need to improve services in underserved and geographically remote regions, including the northeastern states, through better infrastructure, capacity building, and targeted deployment of trained mental health professionals.

They also discussed strategies for expanding advanced neuro-psychiatric care and reinforcing India’s overall mental healthcare ecosystem. They proposed:

• Adopting a hub-and-spoke model supported by digital health platforms

This would allow tertiary institutions and centers of excellence to provide technical guidance, specialist consultations, and clinical support to district hospitals and community-level health facilities.

"Such a model would strengthen referral pathways and ensure that specialized mental health services are accessible to people even in remote and rural areas," the experts said.

• Integrating services under Tele-MANAS

Both existing and upcoming campuses of NIMHANS must be integrated , as this will enable a robust nationwide tele-mental health network that ensures

• timely counselling,
• psychological support,
• specialist consultations

• Digital follow-up systems

The experts called for the seamless integration of healthcare facilities, aligned with the vision of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and the ABHA ID ecosystem. This, they said, will

• enable continuity of care,
• Improve monitoring of patients,
• Lead to better clinical outcomes

• A national Brain-Mind Cloud Network

The Network proposed under the National Health Mission would connect premier institutions such as All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), state medical colleges, and primary healthcare centers through a digitally integrated platform.

It could also facilitate

• unified mental health records,
• AI-based screening tools,
• data-driven clinical decision support systems,
• tele-neuro-psychiatric hubs at regional centers.

California and New Jersey in the US are seeing an uptick in cases of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) -- a virus with no vaccine or treatment.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HMPV can cause upper and lower respiratory disease. There is currently no vaccine to prevent it, and no specific antiviral therapy to treat it.

"Most people will recover on their own," the agency noted, but advised people who get sick to drink plenty of liquids, stay home, and rest.

As per the CDC's respiratory dashboard, the cases of HMPV steadily ticked up since November 2025. It accounted for over 5 percent of positive tests the week of February 14 through February 21.

While HMPV is not a "new" virus, having first been discovered in 2001, cases haven't spiked to this level in the US since an outbreak in April 2025, USA Today reported.

The New Jersey Respiratory Surveillance Report cited that about 4 percent of residents in the state are testing positive for HMPV. The HMPV cases, accompanied by RSV, COVID, and flu cases, are surging, increasing the number of people seeking emergency medical care.

As per the public database, WastewaterScan Dashboard, HMPV is rampant in Northern California -- specifically San Francisco, Marin, Vallejo, Napa, Novato, Santa Rosa, Sacramento, and Davis, the Independent UK reported.

What Is HMPV? Is It Dangerous?

HMPV was first discovered in 2001 and is part of the Pneumoviridae family along with the Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

HMPV most likely spreads from an infected person to others through:

• the air by coughing and sneezing
• close personal contact, such as touching or shaking hands
• touching objects or surfaces that have the viruses on them, then touching the mouth, nose, or eyes

In the US, HMPV circulates in predictable patterns each year, typically beginning in winter and lasting through spring.

The usually self-limiting and mild symptoms typically last 4 to 5 days. These include:

• cough,
• fever,
• nasal congestion,
• shortness of breath

People at risk include:

• elderly people,
• children,
• people with comorbidities

"The HMPV is not deadly, and there is no evidence of mortality or a severe transmission rate," former Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) scientist, Dr. Raman Gangakhedkar, told IANS, during the virus's outbreak in India in 2025.

“The virus may cause pneumonitis-like illness, but the mortality rates are almost unknown so far. HMPV has a global prevalence of about 4 per cent,” he added.

While no vaccine or treatment can prevent HMPV infection, to avoid the infection, individuals must:

Practice good hygiene and cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, or use your elbow, not your hands, for it. And wash your hands properly, especially in healthcare settings.