Govt to improve effort on health<\/p>\n
Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia must improve its health services and reduce maternal
\ndeaths if it hopes to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, a
\nreport released by the World Bank says.<\/p>\n
The report says that every hour at least two women in the
\ncountry die during childbirth, or about 20,000 mothers each year
\nfrom about five million deliveries.<\/p>\n
According to the report, which was released recently, the
\ncountry's maternal mortality rate has been reduced to 307 per
\n100,000 live births from 450 in 1986. However, the country may
\nnot meet the millennium development goal of 125 maternal deaths
\nper 100,000 births by 2010.<\/p>\n
Hemorrhaging, eclampsia, complications from abortion,
\nobstructed labor and infections are still the main causes of
\nmaternal deaths here.<\/p>\n
However, more women are being attended by professional health
\nworkers during birth, from only 43.2 percent in 1997 to 66.2
\npercent last year.<\/p>\n
\"More effort is needed. Some women still prefer to go to a
\ntraditional midwife because they are cheaper and also offer to do
\nthe housework after the mother gives birth,\" said the chairwoman
\nof the National Family Planning Coordinating Board, Sumarjati
\nArjoso.<\/p>\n
In comparison, fellow members of the Association of Southeast
\nAsian Nations (ASEAN) have much lower maternal mortality rates.
\nThailand records 24 deaths per 100,000 live births, Vietnam 100
\nand the Philippines 172.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has halved its infant mortality rate from 91 per
\n1,000 live births in 1990 to just 45 in 2002.<\/p>\n
Compare that to Cambodia, where one in every seven children
\ndoes not reach his fifth birthday.<\/p>\n
One of the main factors in the lower infant mortality rate
\nhere is a comprehensive measles immunization program. The number
\nof children aged between 12 months and 23 months immunized
\nagainst measles increased from 57.5 percent in 1992 to 71.6
\npercent in 2002.<\/p>\n
However, at least 26 children below the age of five in Alor,
\nEast Nusa Tenggara province, died recently in an outbreak of
\nmeasles.<\/p>\n
The World Bank report also found Indonesia has been reducing
\nmalnutrition by some 5 percent annually.<\/p>\n
That figure is impressive when compared to fellow ASEAN
\ncountries. Malnutrition has been falling 1.1 percent annually in
\nMyanmar and Cambodia, 0.9 percent in Laos and 0.6 percent in the
\nPhilippines.<\/p>\n
World Bank president James D. Wolfensohn said during the
\nrelease of the report, Rising to the Challenges: The Millennium
\nDevelopment Goals for Health, that countries needed to look at
\nmeasures such as committing increased resources to meeting the
\nhealth-related Millennium Development Goals.<\/p>\n
The World Bank said increasing health spending was necessary
\nto get poor people the effective treatment they need.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has allocated some Rp 7.4 trillion (US$820 million)
\nfor health spending in 2005, or about 16 percent of the total Rp
\n123 trillion state budget.<\/p>\n
Eight Millennium Development Goals were set at the United
\nNations Millennium Summit in September 2000, where 189 countries
\ncommitted to ambitious targets for improving the health and well-
\nbeing of hundreds of millions of people in the developing world
\nby 2015.<\/p>\n
Four of the goals relate directly to health. They are to
\nreduce the maternal mortality rate by three-quarters and the
\nchild mortality rate by two-thirds, to halve the proportion of
\npeople suffering from hunger, combat HIV\/AIDS, malaria and other
\ndiseases, and to improve access to safe drinking water and
\nessential drugs.<\/p>",
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