Jakarta – Civil society groups and 10 regional administrations agreed to implement joint initiatives in at-risk provinces to reduce high maternal and child mortality rates.
The programs, part of the recently-launched Maternal and Child Health Movement, will focus on ten provinces with high child mortality rates: West Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, North Maluku, Bengkulu, Gorontalo, South Kalimantan and Papua.
"This provides momentum for the government, the United Nations, religious organizations and the private sector to improve child and maternal health by working together," World Vision Indonesia representative Asteria Aritonang said Wednesday.
The Indonesian Demography and Health Survey reports a decrease in the maternal mortality rate from 3.07 to 2.28 per 1,000 live births between 2003 and 2007.
The survey also reports the child mortality rate decreased from 35 to 34 deaths per 1,000 live births in the same period.
Indonesia has not met the UN's Millennium Development Goals, which aim to reduce the maternal mortality rate to 1.02 and the child mortality rate to 23 per 1,000 live births by 2015.
Indonesia faces many challenges reducing maternal and child mortality rates by 2015, Coordinating Public Welfare Minister Agung Laksono said at the recent launch of the Maternal and Child Health Movement.
One challenge is uneven access to proper health care facilities, he added.
"Other challenges are a limited number of medical staff and the uneven distribution of doctors in some regions in Indonesia," he said. "Indonesia still lacks human resources in the health sector," he added.
The Indonesian Doctors Association is planning to train more general practitioners in Indonesia to help decrease maternal and child mortality rates.
"We will focus on East Nusa Tenggara, West Java and Papua, where maternal and child mortality are high," Indonesian Doctors Association representative Ali Bazad said.
"There are many general practitioners in the region. This is why we want to train general practitioners, because many people in Indonesia go to them to consult on pregnancies," said Ali, who heads the group's maternal and child health division.
Many general practitioners were not qualified to handle pregnancies, and poor diagnoses could lead to unwanted deaths, he said.
"One cause of unwanted death is excessive bleeding," he said. "This is why training the doctors is important," Ali added.
He said besides training, the association would also work together with local administrations to help improve health care infrastructure.
"We will assist the local governments by informing them that a lack of proper infrastructure will contribute to mortality," he said.
"We have to remind them about the problems that arise from a lack of facilities in hospitals, poor transportation systems and bad roads," he said.
"Just ensuring the availability of qualified doctors is not enough to decrease the mortality rate. Infrastructure is also important," he added. (map)