A midwife from Indonesia, who is now a University of Manchester PhD student, has addressed some of the world’s leading lights in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) at a high-level side event of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA79), hosted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Feri Anita Wijayanti spoke at the event, ‘Investing in the Future: Unlocking Sustainable Financing for Sexual and Reproductive Health’, which took place in New York last month.
Co-convened by the UNFPA, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Family Planning 2030 and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the summit invited prominent figures across different sectors to promote sustainable investments towards SRH.
Feri was a Young Midwife Leader in a programme organised by the International Confederation of Midwives, from 2021 to 2023. She was invited to speak as a representative of frontline SRH workers, particularly midwives, and in recognition of the real-world impact she has in advocating for improvements in SRH.
Feri told the summit: “I live in the fourth most populous country in the world, spanning over seventeen thousand islands. My country is home to diverse communities, with nearly half the population residing in rural areas. Around 14 % of women in Indonesia faced an unmet need for family planning services.
“In my country, a midwife is the heartbeat of health and well-being of the entire community – our responsibilities extend far beyond delivering babies as we are at the forefront of whatever reproductive health needs a woman might have.”
Wijayanti is now studying for a PhD in Medicine, under the supervision of Professor Alexander Heazell and Dr Kylie Watson at the School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. Her research focuses on health professionals’ and women’s perceptions of reduced fetal movement in Indonesia.
Throughout the summit, speakers emphasised the life-changing power of SRH. The event raised awareness, as well as promoting financial investment, into the importance of effective and accessible SRH services. Many speakers pledged support via financial investments in SRH services, increasing access to contraceptives and maternal healthcare, and donating resources to family planning organisations.
The commitment demonstrated by Wijayanti and her fellow speakers at the summit illustrates a step forward in closing the considerable financing gap in SRH faced by many countries.
