RI's maternal mortality rate still high

RI's maternal mortality rate still high

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto expressed concern yesterday
over Indonesia's maternal mortality rate, which is the highest
among ASEAN countries, and called for a concerted campaign to
reduce it.

A total of 390 out of 100,000 women die in labor annually
here, he pointed out. "The maternal mortality rate is not
determined by women's health status alone. It's also influenced
by their level of education and lifestyle," Soeharto said when
opening a workshop on the campaign against maternal mortality.

Soeharto said that both the government and the community have
already taken various steps to curb the rate. He pointed to the
posting of at least one midwife to each of Indonesia's more than
60,000 villages as an example.

The government has also established integrated health centers
in almost all villages, where mothers can get health tips and
toddlers are given meal supplements, for the same purpose.

"Apparently, all of these efforts are not yet enough. We need
to make even more concerted efforts, which also involve various
activities in the community's life," he told a gathering which
included Minister of Social Services Inten Soeweno and Minister
of Population Haryono Suyono.

Without a rapid decrease in the maternal mortality rate,
women's progress cannot be considered whole, he said. "Without
this whole progress of women, our efforts to improve the quality
of our human resources are not whole either," Soeharto said.

He then called on government officials to improve coordination
among them in fighting maternal mortality, especially in remote
and poor areas.

Also yesterday, Minister of Women's Roles Mien Sugandhi said
the workshop is aimed at establishing guidelines and effective
methods for the campaign to reduce the maternal mortality rate.

She said that while the rate in 1994 was 425 per 100,000
births, it is expected to drop to 225 per 100,000 by the end of
1999. (swe)