Executive Director of the IPAS Indonesia, Dr. Marcia Soumokil MPH, was the guest speaker for the Grand Lecture at the 2025 National Peer Education Workshop (NPEW) organized by CIMSA Indonesia in April 2025 in Yogyakarta.
NPEW is a biennial agenda of the Standing Committee on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights including HIV & AIDS (SCORA) CIMSA Indonesia. This year, NPEW was held at Gadjah Mada University with the theme “Adapting to Transformations in Sexual and Reproductive Health: Building Resilience for a Sustainable Future.”
On that occasion, he delivered a presentation related to clinical management for victims of violence. She emphasized that this topic is very important to support comprehensive and holistic health services for victims. Moreover, the trend of violence cases in Indonesia is increasing.
“Sexual violence is not about sex, but about control and power. It happens because of unequal power relations between perpetrators and victims, and this is what we must change together,” she added.
The presentation at the Grand Lecture is expected to provide a foundation of knowledge as well as motivation for participants to become pioneers in educating the public about this often taboo issue.
“We are all responsible for creating safe, victim-centered spaces and respecting all of a woman’s decisions,” she explains.
One of the participants, Rifyal Syauqi from CIMSA, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Gadjah Mada University, said the material from IPAS Indonesia was new knowledge.
“The grand lecture session from Ms. Marcia was very insightful. The data and presentation provided opened new insights for us, especially on how we as future health workers can contribute to increasing awareness and preparedness in the face of sexual violence,” said Rifyal.
She added that this activity is very relevant considering the high trend of sexual violence around us, and there are still many victims who have not dared to speak out. Hopefully, after this activity, the participants can become health workers who are able to deliver sexual education effectively to the wider community, especially among adolescents and students.
In addition to IPAS Indonesia, the Grand Lecture also featured representatives from the Ministry of Population and Family Development, as well as other stakeholders. Cross-sector collaboration like this is important to bring together policies, medical approaches, and social support as a whole in addressing the issue of sexual violence.
