A woman and her baby leave a Puskesmas – a government-mandated primary care clinic – in West Java, Indonesia, following a check-up. The mother smiles, as the infant stares out from the safety of a bright sarong wrap.
This quiet moment of active participation in their own health and well-being is the realisation of a fundamental human right. It is the winning image selected by the judges of FIGO’s 2019 Photo Competition.
The photo was taken by Pearl Gan, Photographer in Residency at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam and their sister unit, Eijkman Oxford Clinical Research Unit, Jakarta. The Singaporean photographer works to raise awareness of infectious diseases in the Asia Pacific region. Pearl tells the story behind the image:
“I was about to leave the local health centre when I saw the mother and child just leaving, after a health check. The woman’s husband works as a rubbish collector for the neighbourhood, and his job has a high risk of contracting tuberculosis. Regular check-ups for the family are important.”
The FIGO Photography Competition launched in 2019 with an invitation for our global community to share perspectives from the frontlines of women’s health. FIGO shares WHO’s ambition to mobilise health professionals to deal effectively with the current and future challenges to health. We commit to joint actions to build stronger and sustainable primary health care towards achieving a vision of universal health coverage that truly works for women and girls.
Pearl’s trip is supported by OUCRU Public and Community Engagement Department and funded by Wellcome [106680/Z/14/A].