Govt to lower maternal mortality rate

Govt to lower maternal mortality rate

JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to launch a massive
campaign to reduce the high incidence of death among expectant
and new mothers, which Minister of Health Sujudi says is chiefly
the result of ignorance.

Sujudi said yesterday that the government hopes to reduce the
maternal mortality rate to 225 per 100,000 births by 1999, as
compared with the 1994 level of 421 per 100,000 births.

"Currently 75 women die during pregnancy or delivery each
day," he said in opening a one-day seminar titled Concrete Steps
to Ensuring a Healthy Mother and Baby, held in connection with
National Women's Day and International Health Day.

He said the high maternal mortality rate affects the quality
of human resources in Indonesia, which, in turn, is detrimental
for the country as a whole, given the increasingly competitive
world.

"We need qualified human resources to compete with other
countries in the future," Sujudi said.

The seminar, held at the health ministry, was attended by more
than 100 people. Participants included housewives, activists,
government officials and religious leaders. The seminar was
moderated by Zumrotin of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation and
Kartono Mohamad of the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association.

Sujudi said the chief cause of Indonesia's high maternal
mortality rate is undernutrition among pregnant women. This
occurs through a combination of ignorance and sociocultural,
economic and geographical difficulties.

He noted that in many poor Indonesian families women eat last,
even if they are pregnant.

"A wife prepares the food for her husband, children and in-
laws. She will eat what is left after they have all had their
share. No wonder her nutrition level is very low," Sujudi said.

The situation is unacceptable and should change, he said,
adding that women's nutrition is just as important, if not more
important, than that of the rest of the family.

Sujudi said that to bring about change, the government is
launching a campaign to increase people's awareness that they
have to take care of pregnant women and their health.

The minister, a doctor by profession, said he recognized the
need to improve prenatal and postnatal medical services.

On Saturday, Gulardi Wiknjosastro, a senior lecturer at the
University of Indonesia's School of Medicine, said that
Indonesia's 196 million people are served by only 800
gynecologists, most of whom practice in major urban centers.

Gulardi said the high maternal mortality rate could be reduced
if the country had more gynecologists, whose services are crucial
in cases of complications during pregnancy. General practitioners
and midwives, he said, could not take the place of gynecologists.

Sujudi said the government is also striving to cut the infant
mortality rate to 5,000 per 100,000 births by the end of the
decade from 5,800 per 100,000 births at present.

The minister said that success in the ongoing immunization
campaigns, such as the anti-polio drive, are expected to help the
government reach its target. (31)