Rinko Kinoshita keeps priorities in focus during the pandemic

What’s your role in public health?

I am currently the representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for Bolivia.

Can you describe your focus area in one sentence?

As the UN’s sexual and reproductive agency, we work to achieve zero preventable maternal deaths; zero gender-based violence and harmful practices, such as child marriage; and zero unmet needs for family planning or contraception.

What brought you to public health?

I am a nurse midwife by training. After working in a maternity hospital in Tokyo, I decided to attend the Gillings School to get a master’s degree in global maternal and child health. I was very affected on a trip to Bangkok where I saw huge disparities. Just next to skyscrapers, people were living in informal urban dwellings in a riverside area that was extremely congested and had sanitation problems.

How have you pivoted in response to the coronavirus pandemic?

When the coronavirus started, my family had just moved to Senegal. I worked with UNICEF as the interim senior partnerships adviser at their regional office for West and Central Africa, where my team helped country offices build partnerships and mobilize resources for the COVID-19 response.

In September 2020, we moved to Bolivia, where the UNFPA worked to ensure that vital public health measures continued. In many countries, these services had been scaled down amidst the pandemic, which led to a rapid increase in sexual and reproductive health challenges and risk of domestic violence. Together with partners, we advocated that the government put these issues back on the social agenda as essential services.

During the pandemic, lockdowns led to long school closures, economic crises, loss of employment and reduced social support systems, which all increased the risk of experiencing domestic violence. Reporting and monitoring gender-based violence, and providing services to women and girls who were affected by violence, were also challenging. We have worked to ensure continuity, develop communications around violence prevention and reporting, and bring multi-sectoral services closer to those most affected.

Finally, together with partners, we advocated that the government put these neglected issues back on the social agenda as essential services. While our office normally does not provide much in the way of supplies, in 2020 we procured more than $1 million of personal protective equipment for service providers to ensure that they were protected while providing much needed services.

Pandemic restrictions forced us to think outside the box. In rural areas, we provided counseling sessions to adolescents via WhatsApp. Many capacity development activities were converted into online certification courses. Through UN interagency collaboration, we also supported communication campaigns to promote COVID-19 vaccination.

Who are you when you’re at home?

I live in La Paz, Bolivia, with my family. I am a working mom of two daughters. At the same time, I am a part-time doctoral student focusing on gender norms and socialization among early adolescents. I am trying to learn how they build these norms, and how the gender norms affect sexual and reproductive health.

During my free time, I enjoy going for a walk, doing yoga and watching documentaries.