A seminar was jointly held by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Indonesia's Ministry of Health to discuss the draft practical guidelines on reproductive health (RH) in emergency settings on Thursday.
"RH is often not included in the 'emergency health responses' because it is not considered as 'emergency'. This further increases the vulnerabilities of the affected communities," said UNFPA representative to Indonesia Dr. Zahidul Huque.
He pointed out that RH issues and services are often neglected in the emergency phase in Indonesia which is a disaster and conflict-prone country.
So the draft practical guideline is an effort to prevent the highly preventable maternal deaths, unwanted pregnancy, the spread of HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence from happening in the affected communities.
It is also a part of the efforts to implement the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) to ensure the availability of basic, initial reproductive health services during the emergency phase.
For effective RH response, main players need to be equipped with knowledge, skills and means to do so properly and the practical guidelines will contribute to the disaster preparedness contingency plan, said Dr. Melania Hidayat, UNFPA National Program Officer for Reproductive Health.
The draft, made by Ministry of Health and Faculty of Community Health of the Airlangga University with the support of UNFPA, is waiting for ratification.
Source: Xinhua
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