"Empowering women can solve most of the world's problems" - Dr Kartik Naidoo

On his way to studying to be a family medicine physician, Dr Kartik Naidoo has taken many detours. He has worked as a software salesman, a Hindi teacher and even qualified as a computer engineer. But it's his crucial work in reproductive health that has earned Dr Naidoo a 2020 Discovery Foundation Award.

Dr Naidoo believes that empowering women through education, as well as allowing control of their reproduction, are key to solving most problems in the world. This belief has led him to do research for his MMed in family medicine on patients in a community, their attitudes, beliefs and expectations. He is also considering the various social influences that play a role in family planning in the community of Mossel Bay in the Western Cape.

"The issues involving reproduction provide a window into quite fundamental beliefs and attitudes that a community has. It is in understanding these that, I believe, the solution to unplanned pregnancies lies," Dr Naidoo says.

A country's history in one family

His own family history reveals the effects of apartheid on his life decisions, the family's livelihoods, and their paths in life.

He was born in Verulam in KwaZulu-Natal to a mother who was originally from India, and a father who had gone to India to study medicine, as apartheid laws prevented him from pursuing his studies in South Africa.

His grandfather was forbidden to have African labourers staying overnight on his farm in an Indian-designated area in then-Natal. To keep the family farm, his father had to abandon his studies and return to South Africa to help on the farm. By then, Dr Naidoo's parents had married.

Following his father's retrenchment in 1992, and the uncertainties in South Africa at the time, the family briefly relocated to India when Dr Naidoo was in his early teens. He says the experience of leaving connected him even more to his South African roots. In 1996 they returned to Durban, where he matriculated at Verulam High School. He graduated as a computer engineer from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and worked as a computer engineer for Telkom in Pretoria.

"A serendipitous conversation about career choices led to my father offering to pay for my medical studies if I still wanted to become a doctor. I did, and eventually was accepted at the University of the Witwatersrand, where I completed my medical studies," Dr Naidoo says.

Community service an inspiration to do family medicine

It was during his community-service year in Ventersdorp that he became inspired to do family medicine through the University of Stellenbosch.

Dr Naidoo is now in his third year as a family medicine registrar and is living in Mossel Bay with his husband, André Cilliers. He works at the Mossel Bay District Hospital, and is also involved in outreaches to various clinics in the Mossel Bay area.

"My research is on the experience of clients and nurses regarding family planning at the local clinics. I hope to bring forth deep knowledge about the community, their attitudes and beliefs, and the various factors that influence family planning for both nurses and clients," Dr Naidoo explains.

He says there is a high rate of unplanned pregnancies in Mossel Bay, and young women have a number of children at a young age.

"Nurses can and do bring their own worldviews into the workplace, which, research shows, may influence the decisions their clients make. My research focuses on this aspect as well as health service factors that may influence nurses' provision of family planning. It could also be a problem if there is some social connection between the nurses and clients, such as if the nurse is a friend of the client's mother," he adds.

He says he was motivated to apply for the Discovery Foundation Award, as he is doing research in a rural area, and he knew that strengthening rural healthcare systems is one of the Foundation's priorities.

"There have been many doctors that have inspired me in my path so far, and all of them have inspired me through their compassion and love and caring, beyond anything else in medicine," Dr Naidoo concludes.

This article was created for the 2020 Discovery Foundation Awards and has been edited for the Discovery Magazine.