Supported by the Fulbright Program East Asia Pacific Regional Travel Program, US Fulbright Public Policy Fellow Desireé LaGrappe visited Thailand in February 2024.

Currently stationed at Hanoi Medical University, she focuses on enhancing healthcare responses to gender-based violence (GBV), often targeting women and children, as part of the World Health Organization (WHO) Human Reproduction Programme (HRP) Alliance for Research Capacity Strengthening in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).

Her visit aimed to share her research, discuss project plans, and learn from experts across the Greater Mekong Subregion in Maternal and Child Health (MCH) and GBV. Starting in Bangkok, she attended the “2024 Abortion and Reproductive Justice Conference” hosted by the Asia Safe Abortion Partnership in collaboration with the Thai Government Ministry of Public Health at Mahidol University Faculty of Public Health.

Desireé gave an oral presentation on their research about reproductive coercion and abuse, a form of GBV describing controlling and abusive behaviors over contraception use, pregnancy, and abortion outcomes. Desireé’s research is part of her PhD at La Trobe University in Australia, a partner institution of SPHERE, the National and Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence in Sexual and Reproductive Health for Women. The conference provided an opportunity to meet key stakeholders in SRHR from the host country (Vietnam) in attendance and other international delegates, including from the US and Australia. While in Bangkok, Desireé also met Fulbright Public Policy Fellow counterparts placed in Thailand and former public health graduate school classmates at USAID to share insights across their work.

Hosted by Prince of Songkhla University Faculty of Nursing in Hat Yai and Boromarajonani College of Nursing, Khon Kaen, she then visited colleagues established through the Nursing Network on Violence Against Women International (NNNVAWI), where she serves as a student representative to the Board.

These visits aimed to learn about their contexts, focusing on responses to GBV in MCH settings and promoting the November 2024 “Nursing Network on Violence Against Women International (NNVAWI) International Conference” in Phuket, Thailand. A highlight of the trip was learning from frontline staff about Thailand’s One Stop Crisis Center, a nationwide health policy implemented across all hospitals.

In return, Desireé, with interpreter support, participated in Prince of Songkhla’s Midwifery Research Day and delivered workshops to their cohort of master’s and PhD students and their supervisors, and delivered a guest lecture to over 60 Boromarajonani College trainees for their high-risk and crisis reproductive health course.

Finally, Desireé visited Khon Kaen University, another WHO HRP Alliance Regional Hub, to learn about their related work and how they might strengthen partnerships with Hanoi Medical University.

Summarizing the experience, Desireé said she looks forward to applying learnings from this very productive, enriching trip to their Fulbright work in Vietnam and considering implications for the US and Australian contexts. She hopes relationships established during the visit can foster ongoing collaboration to promote SRHR and prevent GBV in all forms.