PodCare on “Reproductive Health During a Pandemic”

idsMED Indonesia, in collaboration with doctorSHARE recently conducted a live podcast event entitled “Reproductive Health During a Pandemic” to strengthen insights and enhance awareness on the importance of reproductive health.

Conducted via Instagram live @idsmedlead.id and @doctorshare IG accounts on 21 January 2022, the programme centred on two key areas, namely the importance of a healthy reproductive system and reproductive health services, particularly during a pandemic.

idsMED Indonesia was represented by Kartika Primaesa while dr. Benedict Adhi Sanjaya, MSC, represented doctorSHARE.

Reproductive health essentially looks into maintaining the cleanliness of reproductive organs, matters regarding sexual relations as well as the overall health of pregnant women and babies.

When the COVID-19 virus was discovered in Indonesia, lockdowns and quarantine became the priority. People were encouraged to stay at home and practice physical distancing, but this later led to an increase in pregnancy rates. Nevertheless, during this period, pregnant women continued to avoid going for proper check-ups on their reproductive health or pregnancy which consequently led to the increase in COVID-19 cases among pregnant women.

Apart from this, majority of the government and healthcare workers were also focused on the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. This also diverted the attention of the healthcare workers from this area.

Against this backdrop, dr Benedict encouraged healthcare workers to continue supporting reproductive health programmes. He emphasised that healthcare workers should also attend to their main duties and responsibilities to support the community.

dr. Benedict also briefly discussed on the recent sexual violence cases, which involved both male and female victims where he encouraged everyone to speak up about this issue. Another key area that he touched on was the lack of any reliable reference that measured the extent of the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on health services. Thus, dr. Benedict stressed the importance of doing routine checkup for pregnant women to prevent any damage from the COVID-19 virus.

PodCare is a weekly live podcast organised by idsMED Indonesia wherein doctorSHARE representatives and professionals from the field of healthcare are invited as guest speakers to talk on specific topics.