Drysdale: Critical time to raise sexual reproductive, maternal health
INTERNATIONAL Planned Parenthood Federation IPPF deputy director Robyn Drysdale believes that this is a critical time to raise sexual reproductive health and maternal health as it is cyclone season in Fiji.
Speaking during a media conference at the IPPF Suva office last week, she said it was important for agencies that deal with reproductive and family health in Fiji to go out and to take the services to the people rather than just having services that exist in urban areas.
“Rather than expecting people to come, we need to go out and take the services to the people,” Ms Drysdale said.
“That’s critical — including those in rural areas in remote areas as well.”
She said preparations needed to be made before the cyclone season as these were times when women and girls were at their most vulnerable.
“It’s really critical right now going into cyclone season that we think about sexual reproductive health and maternal health as well as the food, shelter and water preparations because women don’t stop having babies.
“Women get pregnant during, after, before cyclone season and often crises like cyclones can bring on extra stress which might mean early arrivals of babies, it can also cause miscarriages with the trauma of things.
Ms Drysdale said preparations had to be made precyclone season and not assumptions. “We have to know if the road is blocked, if the sea is too rough how we are going to get that woman to a safe place to give birth safely.
“Who’s going to be there to help her? We can’t assume that there’ll be health centres available. We can’t assume that we’ll be able to get to the hospital.
“So being ready for that, having a safety plan, knowing what the early signs are for a difficult birth, that’s really important.”
Ms Drysdale encouraged community members to be aware of where pregnant women were during cyclone periods.
“Making a plan we encourage people to make community plans to know where the pregnant women are, where and how they would transport them should there be a crisis.
“We know that there are issues around evacuation centres sometimes about the safety. “Women and girls and other vulnerable populations don’t sometimes feel safe in those evacuation centres.
“We do know sadly that gender-based violence increases during crisis times and after things like cyclones.
She said the organisation would work with village committees responsible for evacuation centres just so to try and prevent any accidents from happening when the centres were being used.
“And we also try and work with the people who are running the evacuation centres and other partners to make sure things are in place to support people.
“Women and girls often don’t feel safe maybe it’s about there’s no lighting around the bathrooms for example.
“It’s important to have women and girls separate from men, except if they’re maybe in their family groups, but they need to be well-supported and taking care of the more vulnerable, vulnerable members of families as well.”
Ms Drysdale said many things happened during times of crisis, including children being separated from their families, family separation and so forth.
“Sometimes even children can get separated from their families and so these are all the things that can put people at risk and we need to be prepared for and work out how to keep them safe.
“I think within the urban areas of Fiji we are doing well and there are lots of services available.”
She said women and girls in the outer remote islands and rural areas faced more difficulties than those living near the urban centres.
“For example — the Lau group, if you experience any health problems or if you have experienced sexual violence, for example, where do you go for health?
“Where do you get support? Who’s there to help you?
“So that’s a really big challenge in the rural areas, even having access to services, access to contraceptives, for example, or condoms or treatment services.”
Ms Drysdale said agencies and organisations must work together to help educate those in the outer remote places on sexual health.