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Rana Islamiah Zahroh is a Research Fellow at University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on supporting women’s rights during pregnancy and childbirth and ensuring access to appropriate care. She is particularly passionate about caesarean use, digital health interventions, and translating research into practice to improve maternal health outcomes in low-resource-settings.

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Find out more about Rana's research with ARPAN: 

Tackling caesarean commercialisation in Indonesia: co-designing social media-based intervention

Caesarean section (CS) rates in Indonesia have risen sharply, driven not only by clinical need but also by commercial interests. Hospitals and obstetricians in Indonesia increasingly promote CS on social media through “Enhanced Recovery After Caesarean Section” (ERACS). Despite being typical peri-operative care, ERACS is marketed in Indonesia as an “advanced technique” of CS, enabling women to have painless, comfortable, and faster recovery births (within 24 hours post-surgery). This misleading promotion may contribute to unnecessary CS use. Therefore, this project aims to co-design social media intervention that counters misinformation on CS and empowers women to make informed choices about birth.