Interacting with the wives of the Lungtenphu army personnel, Her Majesty Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck asked them if they had done Pap smear test. The answer to Her Majesty’s question was a resounding yes.
Her Majesty the Gyalyum, who is the UN Goodwill Ambassador, met with the members of the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) in Lungtenphu, Thimphu today as part of Her Majesty’s high-level advocacy tour on priority health and social issues.
Addressing the gathering, Her Majesty shared the importance of having a healthy family and knowing the preventive measures for diseases, both communicable and non-communicable. Her Majesty reminded the husbands of their responsibility to support their wives since most diseases are related to women and children.
Her Majesty also emphasized that preventing the spread of diseases is a collective responsibility. “You all need to understand that it is not just the government’s responsibility to prevent the spread of HIV and that each one of you have a role to play,” Her Majesty said.
“You need to make sure the disease is not spread to your children and family. You all should know how these diseases are spread and how it can be prevented. For that, you all need to contact the health personnel.”
The advocacy tour covers a wide range of public health and social issues such as getting Pap smear test done to prevent cervical cancer and addressing mental health issues. Encouraging exclusive antenatal and postnatal care, suicide prevention, and issues related to alcohol and substance abuse were also discussed.
“Gyalyum’s initiatives have benefited us in the past as well,” Tshetrim Lhamo said. “Even today, the health officials who came along talked about various diseases about which we had only little knowledge. Now, we know more about it.”
“Her Majesty has been conducting such programmes with the armed forces for some time now,” said Gyem Tshering. “We also have the women welfare association who meet regularly to talk about the issues covered today. This is being done under the auspices of Her Majesty.”
On the sidelines of the meeting, Her Majesty met with the officers and their wives. Her Majesty also granted tokha to the gathering.
Tomorrow, Her Majesty will meet with the dzongkhag, thromde, and Road Safety and Transport Authority (RSTA) staff at the Royal Institute of Management (RIM).
