Universitas Hasanuddin (Unhas), through the Graduate School, conducted an International Conference entitled “The 3rd International Conference on Women and Societal Perspective on Quality of Life (WOSQUAL) 2021”. The activity took place virtually on the zoom meeting application on Friday (12/11).
Four keynote speakers were invited to discuss some topics, namely:
- Professor Dr. Patcharee Lertrit, MD (Mahidol University, Thailand),
- Prof. Dr. Nik Hazlina Nik Hussain (Universiti Sains Malaysia),
- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mas Rina Wati binti Hj Abdul Hamid (Brunei Darusallam, University) and
- Kusrini S. Kadar, S.Kp., MN., Ph.D (Universitas Hasanuddin).
Prof. Dr. Ir. Jamaluddin Jompa, M.Sc., the dean of graduate school, explained that the conference was very strategic to discuss the role of women from various perspectives. The quality of life of women determines the quality of life of a nation’s generation. Multiple factors, such as bio-psycho-social-spiritual, education, recreation and leisure time to social ownership, are very influential.
The issue of women’s health is an essential component in improving the Quality of Life (QoL) in life satisfaction of women. The idea of QoL, as women’s studies, has then attracted the attention of the Unhas Postgraduate School.
“The conference can improve the understanding and insight about the important role of women in contributing to the development of Indonesia in the future. The role of women has a strategic position to accomplish those goals,” explained Prof. Jamal.
The conference was officially opened by Prof. dr. Muh. Nasrum Massi, Ph.D., the Vice-Rector for Research, Innovation, and Partnership.
In his remarks, Prof. Nasrum appreciated the implementation of the conference addressing critical issues about women.
Prof. Nasrum added that women make an essential contribution to all aspects of life to support the survival and development of our nation. Sometimes, however, there is a gap in optimising the women potential, which seldom occurs in various aspects of life.
“Unhas supports such activities that contribute to internationalisation, in which we continue to maximise the commitment of achieving the World Class University (WCU). The conference is one of the strategic steps to expand partnership with various parties and support Unhas’ goal toward WCU,” explained Prof. Nasrum.
After the opening, the event moved to the presentation session by speakers. The first topic, “Health Literacy and Pregnancy”, was delivered by Kusrini. She explained that health literacy is a critical component in ensuring healthy behaviour as a determinant of health and quality of life.
Inadequate health literacy is associated with difficulties in understanding health information, limited knowledge about the disease and low adherence to treatment. Sometimes, this can easily be found among the elderly, those with low socioeconomic statuses, such as minority populations and medically underserved people.
“For example, when a patient with low health literacy may have difficulties in finding sufficient health service and provide, completing a complex health form, searching for health treatment, and understanding the prescription drugs,” explained Kusrini.
On the same occasion, Prof. Dr. Mas Rina, as one of the speakers, also disclosed her view on “Women and Cancer: The Brunei Perspective”. She started her presentation with an explanation of cancer development. Cancer that develops when normal cells undergo rapid abnormal growth and proliferation results in lumps known as tumours.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In 2020, cancer caused nearly 10 million death. The most common cancer were breast, lungs, colon, and stomach.
“For women, cancer generally attacks breast, cervical, colorectal, endometrial, lung, ovary, and skin. The most important thing to know is what people should do to detect it early or prevent it when it is still small and has not spread yet. With the early detection efforts, this can save lives,” said Prof. Mas Rina.
Several scopes and topics were available in this conference, such as women and Covid-19, maternal, newborn and child health, adolescent and reproductive health, nutrition and quality of life, work and women, infectious diseases related to women, and sex and fertility. Selected papers will be reviewed and be published in the International Journal and Conference Proceeding Indexed by Scopus.
WOSQUAL 2021 was participated by approximately 300 presenters. The conference was conducted for two days, from Friday (12/11) to Saturday (13/11).
Kumara Tungga Dewa, S.S.
Editor: Ishaq Rahman, AMIPR
