The weak worst hit by crisis

The weak worst hit by crisis

By Solita Sarwono

WASSENAR, the Netherlands (JP): The economic crisis hitting
Indonesia in the past year has affected different aspects of
people's lives -- income, jobs, education, health, housing and
security -- with the poor and low-income groups suffering the
most.

Immediate effects can be seen in the drastic shortage of food
supplies, as well as increases in unemployment, crime rates and
the number of children forced to leave school.

It is heartbreaking to read press reports of two small
children crying from hunger in a village in West Java as their
mother cooked water and a stone in a pot, or that a few poor
farmers gave away their children to other families because they
could no longer afford to keep them.

In the long term, the crisis will also affect people's health.
Government subsidies for health services and medical supplies, a
major factor in the improvement of the public health status in
the past decade, have been severely cut.

As a result, health services and medicines have become
unaffordable for low-income people and preventive care will
inevitably be neglected. Diseases will be left untreated, leading
to a higher mortality rate.

Many people are turning to the help of traditional healers and
birth attendants, with fees much lower than conventional medical
personnel. Given the often poor hygiene and improper practices of
the healers, the alternative care may also cause more deaths.

In addition, the shortage in the food supply will cause
nutritional problems, particularly among babies, children,
pregnant women and the aged. Malnutrition among young children
will disturb development of their intellectual capacity, which in
turn will produce low-quality human resources.

Although the crisis is a problem for the entire nation, the
biggest burden falls on the shoulders of women as the key figures
and pillars of families. As wives and mothers, Indonesian women
have the responsibility of taking care of the health and welfare
of their husbands and children, maintaining social contacts with
relatives and friends as well as generating income.

In most households, with the exception of a small group of the
rich, the family budget is declining sharply due to the crisis.
Millions of families have even lost their income since their
breadwinners have been laid off or dismissed by their employers.

Naturally, the wives have to adjust and cut the monthly
household expenses. They have to reassess the family outlays and
decide which should be trimmed. They will make a list of
priorities and think first of the needs of their children and
husbands, putting their own in last importance.

Protecting and sacrificing for the family is a normal maternal
instinct, manifested each time the wives feel a threat to their
families. However, this unselfish attitude can cost them their
health. Lack of food, poor nutrition and harder work is gradually
destroying their physical well-being. On top of that, wives are
under extra stress, as they often become the husbands' object of
frustration and anger, which are escalating nowadays.

The role of a mother has become more difficult, too. All
mothers want to give their children the best care and education.
They hope to see their children obtain a better life and reach
higher status than their own. It is thus very sad and frustrating
for mothers when they are forced by this turmoil to end their
children's education.

As many as eight million children have been unable to continue
their primary and secondary education in the past few months.
This is a huge increase from the annual average of dropouts,
estimated at 2.5 million by the Central Bureau of Statistics. It
is easy to assume that the majority of the dropouts are girls.

To provide better living conditions and education for
children, millions of mothers in Indonesia have been able to
limit the number of children with the help of contraception.

The slogan "two children is enough" for family planning
campaigns seems to have been internalized in the minds of young
women. Continuous information and persuasion by the government
and private institutions have made young women aware of the
importance of education and good health in raising children. But
that costs money, and young women currently prefer to have fewer
children.

In order to promote family planning programs, the government
has provided subsidies for family planning services, including
contraceptives. But the situation has changed now. Lack of
funding has forced the government to cut its subsidies. Prices of
contraceptive pills and injectables have become unaffordable to
low-income families.

The situation has forced some women to resort to traditional
contraceptive methods, such as using herbal medicine and the
rhythm method. These measures seldom work. As a result, the
number of pregnancies will significantly increase in the coming
months, to be followed by an increase in the abortion rate or a
baby boom in the near future.

With the increased costs of medical care, the cost of abortion
by licensed doctors has become too expensive for members of the
low-income group, forcing them to turn to back-street
practitioners and traditional birth attendants. Experience shows
these practices lead to high maternal mortality.

On the other hand, keeping the pregnancy also brings its
negative consequences. Deliveries assisted by traditional birth
attendants increase the risk of death for both mothers and
babies. When a baby is born safely, it may not get proper
nutrition, which is crucial for its physical and mental
development. And if the child does survive infancy, it will
probably get only a few years of schooling or none at all.

In the long run, Indonesia is expecting a "crippled"
generation -- people with low education and in poor health.

Moreover, frequent pregnancies and births, worsened by poor
nutrition, will weaken women's health and may even cause their
death, leaving the families in poor care.

Women suffer the most in this turmoil. During the mid-May
riots, some were reportedly raped and murdered; and the recession
has made them cry in hunger and worry about the future of their
children. Those who voiced their concern for the children were
put in jail.

Some may think that this whole issue is blown up out of
proportion because they do not see it happening in their
immediate surroundings. But if they give a closer look at people
they meet in the street or marketplaces and have a chat with
them, they will see how real the problem is.

The economic recession has been going on for more than one
year now and it is high time for the authorities, decision-makers
and everyone else who cares to take action and help brighten this
gloomy picture. When the health of poor women and children, which
form the half of the population, is at stake, the future of this
nation is indeed gloomy.

We must save the women and children because the future of the
nation depends on them. The privileged must be grateful and not
be selfish.

Let us pool our resources and give our support to the needy.
Talking only and feeling pity for the poor will not help. Let us
try to cut short the red tape of bureaucracy and thus limit the
chance for corruption or misuse of the power. Do not wait for too
long. We do not want to see our nation collapse.

The writer is a psychologist, sociologist and health educator
in the Netherlands.