Jakarta – Health officials, lawmakers and activists are working together to reduce Indonesia's maternal, infant and child mortality rates, which are among the highest in Southeast Asia.
During a seminar – Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health: Our Shared Responsibility – held at the House of Representatives on Thursday, health professionals, legislators and representatives of local and foreign aid agencies, discussed strategies for increasing health funding to at least Rp 17 trillion (about US$1.8 billion) in 2007.
The extra money would improve the health of women and children and ensure the provision of quality free health care for the nation's needy.
The budget for 2006 stands at Rp 15.6 trillion, or 2.4 percent of the total state budget, an increase of 102 percent from the 2005 allocation for health.
Indonesian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development chairwoman Aisyah Hamid Baidlowi said every hour in Indonesia two women died in childbirth, 10 infants expired within an hour of birth, and 24 children under five lost their lives.
She said it was vital to protect the health of women and children because it was an investment in the nation's future. "All concerned parties must make a serious political commitment to developing effective policies toward the improvement of health services."
House Commission IX on health chairman Max Sopacua said, "it is imperative that policies be established and adequate funds allocated for the improvement of the health of mothers, infants and small children. We are all too aware that the current national health budget is far from the WHO ideal of 15 percent of the annual state budget."
Participants in the seminar expressed hope the nation's allocation for health services would reach about 6 percent of the state budget, or around Rp 30 trillion, before the end of the decade.
Other recommendations made by the seminar were – amendments to the 1992 Health Law to include articles specifically addressing efforts to improve maternal and child health; the need for assurance health allocations for 2006 were used transparently and in an accountable manner; and public access to quality health care should be guaranteed at state and private sector health facilities.