Understand, take responsibility and contribute positively to discussions. Ease Healthcare co-founder Rio Hoe believes men should be champions for sexual health.

A couple of years ago, my partner and I visited the clinic for emergency contraception. We went in looking for support and information but we left the clinic feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable. When we finally saw the doctor after an extremely long and uncomfortable wait, we were chided for being “irresponsible” instead of getting the advice we desperately needed. To make things worse, we both had to miss half a day of work and paid quite a bit for consultation and medication.

I stepped out of the clinic without any solutions even though I managed to take away something invaluable — a mission to make sure that nobody has to go through what my partner and I experienced in that room.

 

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I felt determined that by leveraging technology, we can help everyone access stigma-free, convenient and affordable sexual and reproductive services. On that very day, the first seeds of Ease Healthcare were planted. Cost was a big concern that we wanted to solve. Affordability is woven into our mission to increase accessibility to sexual and reproductive health services.

We have been working to educate and convince consumers that telemedicine is indeed a common and reliable mode of healthcare provision. It has seen tremendous growth in the past few years with support from doctors and regulators.

Right now, 90% of our staff identify as females. When we build our team, the focus is not so much on gender. We hire people who are aligned with our company’s mission and share the same passion for transforming access to healthcare for the better. The very first thing that we are prioritising at the moment is cutting down delivery timings even further. Effective service provision and speedy deliveries are a big part of a robust customer journey, so this is a big focus for us at the moment.

 

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We are also working on expanding our service offerings and will roll out more birth control options for users so that they have more options to choose from and more opportunities to find what is best for them.

The team’s focus is on consistently improving and expanding our service offerings, creating excellent consumer experiences. We want to keep growing and eventually become a one-stop platform for sensitive healthcare needs and the top-of-mind brand in this sector.

We want everyone who needs support for their sexual and reproductive health to come to us for our wide range of quality services, affordable rates and a judgement-free environment for them to take control of their sexual health and wellness.

If I had to pick the most important way a man can be involved in such sensitive health issues, it would be to learn and contribute to this conversation. What I mean by “learn” is developing a sense of understanding of a partner’s needs and wants, as well as learning as much as possible about sexual and reproductive health matters to make informed decisions and have productive conversations with their partner. In terms of contributing, make the responsibility of taking care of sexual and reproductive health a shared one.

It is also really important to contribute positively to the discussion about these topics, which helps to remove the stigma that usually accompanies sensitive healthcare issues.

This story with Rio Hoe of Ease Healthcare first appeared in our August 2021 issue.