Acehnese to get mobile child care service

JAKARTA: Children in disaster-hit Aceh and Nias on Sumatra island can now expect a visit by a mobile child care service unit bringing in educational storybooks and promoting basic hygiene.

The mobile unit, donated by PT Novartis Biochemie, will be operated by facilitators from the National Commission for Child Protection.

"Based on our field observation, currently there is no mobile child care service ... so we believe such a service would be very useful," child psychologist and activist Seto Mulyadi who chairs the commission said as quoted in a press statement.

He said that some of the books were specially written for children living in post-emergency areas, adding that the basic health promotion service would emphasize the importance of personal hygiene, such as brushing teeth and cutting nails.

PT Novartis Biochemie president director Klaus Ribbe said that his company, which dispatched several volunteers after the Dec. 26 tsunami in Aceh, was glad to be able to assist the victims of the disaster in any way possible as part of its corporate social responsibility program. --JP