Episode 6: Refugee Doctor, Doctor On Ground (DnG) With Guest Dr. Syazana & Arissa Jemaima

The UN Refugee Agency reports that there are 65.3 million people seeking protection and assistance because of forced displacement. Conflict and displacement are associated with loss of livelihood, poverty, disruption of services, loss of identity, reduced care for reproductive needs, and reduced provision of maternal care, among other things.

From Doctor on Ground (DnG) and their works, the health needs and access barrier, lack of reproductive health care, and family planning among the refugee women are the issues we must address. They can’t afford health care because it is expensive for them.

“The cultural barrier and with the community that we work with, there is a cultural norm where if you get pregnant, there is a blessing to you. And so, if you come in with contraceptives or family planning campaigns, you are disturbing God’s work or you, you know, you are not grateful for that blessing. So, all these cultural norms are practiced and believed in the community that we work with. So, with our efforts to educate our community is we are slowly trying to debunk a lot of the opinions that go about family planning, especially within the refugee community,” Arissa said.

Teen pregnancy among the refugees did happen among the refugees, said Dr. Syazana.

“A good family planning is where you are counseling the patient, make them know that this is the number of kids you should have for them to have education, good living environment. Once they knew it, they will practice it. As we all know, in Malaysian, roughly the number shows that you are advisable to have 2 to 3 kids in number. So, we also implemented this to the refugees, tell them about good spacing. Good spacing is one kid per two years, then the following kid comes along. If you’re 40 years old, you should not pregnant at that age.”, said Dr.Syazana.

Without proper reproductive health services to the refugees, they are unable to break the poverty cycle. The need to address sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in humanitarian settings is more urgent than ever, especially among young refugees.