16 APRIL 2021
The All Women’s Action Society (AWAM) calls on the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) to ensure that its staff, especially the content creators of MyHealth undergoes gender sensitive training, to ensure the future publication of empirical content on gender-based violence on its website, as a legitimate response to the series of now-deleted controversial articles on the MyHealth website on sexual harassment, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, and domestic violence. AWAM is happy to act as training provider to these relevant parties in MOH, as we are already the training providers of sexual harassment redress, prevention and awareness programs for both KPWKM and KBS.
Whilst the MOH has clarified that they have “taken steps” to ensure that all MyHealth articles are “evidence-based” and “in line with current health issues”, there was an unjustifiable comment from the Health Minister on the unapproved nature of the published sexual harassment article. The currently under-maintenance MyHealth website had a quality assurance policy that clearly specified the appointment of “qualified medical and allied healthcare professionals” as content writers and the website’s commitment to a “stringent” process of content checks, peer and editorial review, and editorial endorsement. Values of integrity and accountability are integral in professionalism in healthcare, whereby these values also encompass provision of accurate and evidence-based information in a transparent and objective manner to uphold patient safety and wellbeing. As the nation’s leading authority in healthcare delivery and information dissemination that also has professionalism as one of its key values, MOH’s non-adherence to its own information quality standards equates to a breach of that value.
Furthermore, the Director General of Health’s disclaimer that the article reflects the author’s and not MOH’s opinions seems to miss the mark, considering MOH’s social responsibility in shaping public attitudes on social issues. Social inequalities are inextricably linked to health, whereby experiences of systematic discrimination, marginalisation and exclusion are linked to poor physical and mental health outcomes. To achieve positive community health outcomes, promotion of values of respect of all persons and non-discrimination is then necessary. This duty should be taken seriously by MOH.
By misinforming the public that survivor-related characteristics such as the style of dress and interactions are the causes of sexual harassment, the MOH is thus inaccurately putting sole responsibility on the survivor for being sexually harassed, thus legitimising a culture of victim-blaming that can lead to unjustifiably devastating mental health consequences for the survivor. This narrative only further normalises sexual harassment, while the root causes of power imbalance and patriarchal beliefs surrounding men’s superiority over women are swept under the rug.
By advising adolescents to not wear revealing clothing so as not to sexually arouse their family members, the MOH is shifting accountability away from the perpetrators, hence making themselves complicit in the continuation of physical, mental and emotional health violations on children. By including an entire section on homosexuality, the MOH is implying that homosexuality is a “health problem” when it is clearly not as evident through its removal from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) since 1973. On a wider scale, the MOH is also complicit in further perpetuating the preexisting culture of discrimination against the LGBT community, especially in the wake of Putrajaya’s statement on increasing sentencing limits in the Syariah Courts Act 1965.
Practising the principles of equality, respect of all persons and non-discrimination is crucial in ensuring that everyone can fulfil basic rights in all areas of life including health, and all public authorities and institutions should act in conformity with and full commitment to this obligation.
Issued by:
All Women’s Action Society (AWAM)