Reflection From the Field: SRT Student, Bentley’s, Reflections in Kisumu

Reflection From the Field: SRT Student, Bentley’s, Reflections in Kisumu

by Bentley ChoiNo Comments
First and foremost, we have passed the halfway point of our time in Kenya! Time flies by, and we are discussing what we want to get out of the next four weeks. Insofar, we collected more than 20 observation data to evaluate the workflow of stigma education at the clinic. During this process, we faced multiple hiccups, especially scheduling a visit and clearing up logistics. Three of our observation clinics had a twelve-day-long CHV training, so we had to flip our schedule to ensure we could collect the data we initially planned. We spent the last couple of days creating a contingency plan so that our time in Kenya could contribute to the depth of our data. Listening to what other teammates thought helped us, as a team, solidify the future direction of our study, such as what variables to analyze in observation studies, codes for focus group discussion, and the focus of our manuscript.   Besides working on an observational study,...
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Comfort Women?

by Bentley ChoiNo Comments
Every Wednesday in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, people gather around to demand the Japanese government formally apologize for their forced sexual slavery system during World War II. Even though it has been over 20 years of Koreans raising this issue, the Japanese government has only tried to offer monetary compensation, and has not issued an official apology. The Asian Women’s Fund estimates the number of victims ranges from 50,000 to a quarter million, but the number has remained vague due to incomplete data archives and stigma among victims after the war (1). A few survivors of this sexual slavery system have spoken in front of global leaders to raise awareness: one of them, Hak-sun Kim, delivered her first testimony in 1991. During this testimony, Kim said that when she was seventeen, she was forcibly sent to the Japanese military’s comfort station (a sexual slavery station) in China (2). She resisted, but soldiers threatened and kicked her to be...
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How did COVID-19 influence telehealth abortion?

by Bentley ChoiNo Comments
COVID-19 impacted our lives a lot. Working from home became common sense, losing a dear family member and making hospital appointments became incredibly difficult. In Sexual Reproductive Health, Marie Stopes International (MSI) expected that up to 9.5 million females would lose access to contraception and safe abortion services due to COVID. It could lead to 2.7 million unsafe abortions and more than 10,000 pregnancy-related deaths [1]. Inspired by the guest lecture of Kelly Hunter, a DGHI Doctoral Scholar and PhD candidate in Political Science, about her research on the impact of the Global Gag Rule and COVID-19 on women’s sexual and reproductive health in Kenya [2], I want to look at how COVID-19 and development of telemedicine impacted sexual and reproductive health in high-income countries, such as the United States and Great Britain. By its WHO definition, telemedicine utilises internet and communication technology (ICT) in healthcare practice [3]. A wide array of information collected through various technologies helps decrease the cost...
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