Crisis threatens motherhood programs<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Every month, Martina, who is seven months
\npregnant, goes to a community health center for a checkup.<\/p>\n
She does not have to worry about the cost as she has a
\nmaternity care (ANC) card which entitles her to professional
\nmedical treatment during pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal
\ncare.<\/p>\n
To get the card, Martina, 25, paid Rp 2,500 and she will only
\nhave to pay Rp 50,000 in hospital fees for the birth. Her husband
\nhas saved enough money to provide her with healthy food and other
\nnecessities when their first child is born.<\/p>\n
The couple lives in a village, in Central Java, which is quite
\nfar away from a provincial hospital. But they do not have to
\nworry about transportation because one of their neighbors has
\noffered to help. He has a car which usually functions as the
\nvillage ambulance.<\/p>\n
The couple does not have to fork out transportation fees
\nbecause the car owner can be reimbursed at the nearest bank or
\nvillage cooperative.<\/p>\n
The village chief has also built a transit home near the
\nhospital to accommodate pregnant women from remote areas who are
\nnearing the end of their pregnancy.<\/p>\n
This sounds too good to be true but it is real. This is all
\npart of the Safe Motherhood schemes and mother-friendly movements
\ncurrently underway in Indonesia's 27 provinces.<\/p>\n
The implementation of these programs is mainly aimed at
\nproviding social, financial and health security for pregnant and
\nbreast-feeding mothers.<\/p>\n
Stephen J. Woodhouse, Unicef's area representative for
\nIndonesia and Malaysia, said that the scheme was carried out in
\nCentral Java with Salatiga being the first city to apply it.<\/p>\n
\"I was very impressed with the program and it seems to work
\nquite well,\" he said referring to the province's Safe Motherhood
\nprogram supported by the government and the Japanese
\nInternational Cooperation Agency.<\/p>\n
Unicef, he said, is planning to carry out similar programs
\nin Maluku, Irian Jaya and West Java provinces with the assistance
\nof the Australian Agency for International Development.<\/p>\n
\"Ideally, all community members are involved in Safe
\nMotherhood programs. In some provinces, such as in Yogyakarta,
\nthe programs work very well,\" Woodhouse said.<\/p>\n
Yogyakarta has the lowest maternal mortality rate in Indonesia
\nwith only 100 deaths in 100,000 live births compared to
\nthe national average of 400.<\/p>\n
Most maternal deaths, he said, are due to poor nutrition,
\ninadequate medical facilities, delay in transporting pregnant
\nwomen in need of emergency obstetric care because they live in
\npoor and remote villages.<\/p>\n
The current financial crisis in Indonesia makes the future
\nstability of any government program unclear, and the ability of
\nthe government to fund health care is likely to diminish.<\/p>\n
The ongoing socioeconomic-political upheavals have greatly
\naffected national health programs.<\/p>\n
Meiwita B. Iskandar, resident advisor of Resident Population
\nCouncil Jakarta, revealed in her most recent study on the impact
\nof the present crisis on women's health and nutritional status
\nthat many improvement programs for women's health would unlikely
\nachieve their target.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Health has an ambitious target to reduce the
\nmaternal mortality rate of 400 in 100,000 live births by half by
\n2,000.<\/p>\n
\"The spiraling prices of basic commodities, drugs and medical
\nequipment have been devastating to the life of Indonesian people,
\nparticularly the most vulnerable members including pregnant
\nwomen, breast-feeding mothers and children under five,\" Meiwita
\nwrote.<\/p>\n
The purchasing power of the people has been declining so
\nsharply due to a high inflation rate and mass layoffs. In rural
\nareas, the drought has destroyed harvests and compounded the
\ndifficulties facing poor farmers, Meiwita revealed.<\/p>\n
A lot of people would be unable to buy nutritious food for
\ntheir families. Pregnant women, breast-feeding mothers and
\nchildren under five are threatened with malnutrition because they
\ncannot afford healthy food and necessary vitamins such as
\nsupplements of Vitamin A, iodine, folic acid, iron tablets and
\nother minerals.<\/p>\n
This also results in a growing number of families who fail to
\ntake their sick children to health centers.<\/p>\n
A number of pregnant women will likely stop prenatal care and
\nchoose to give birth at home without proper medical assistance.
\nMedical staff will likely go to big cities to open their own
\nmedical practices rather than work in villages.<\/p>\n
The future of maternal and child health programs depends
\nheavily on the way the government deals with the present crisis,
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
\"It is predicted that childbirth risks will increase, and thus
\nmaternal and infant mortality rates, unless the government
\nis quick to resolve the current social, economic and political
\ncrisis,\" Meiwita recommended. (raw)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/crisis-threatens-motherhood-programs-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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