Maternal and child health
The health of pregnant women and children is of particular concern in the Bintuni Bay region, with poor access to antenatal care, a high risk of complications during pregnancy and birth and widespread anemia
There is poor access to family planning in the Bay area. As a result, fertility rates are high, with the average woman having five births, compared to the Indonesian national rate of just over two. Access to antenatal care is also low, with only 33% of women receiving adequate care during pregnancy and almost all giving birth at home. Consequently, the incidence of complications is high during pregnancy (at 20%) and delivery (at 12%).
Over 66% of children under five years of age are anemic, along with 50% of all women of reproductive age. In addition, most children do not complete their basic immunization schedule, and almost half of the under-fives suffer from moderate to severe malnutrition.
Clearly, effective action is needed, and in response to issues such as these, identified in the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA / AMDAL) carried out in the Bintuni Bay region in 2000, TCHU has set a number of primary objectives:
- to improve health-seeking and care-giving behaviour by focusing on key family practices that have an impact on child health and survival
- to establish a network of trained village health workers and village-based health institutions
- to implement a ‘Positive Deviance’ approach to improve nutrition
- to increase access to high quality maternal and child health care services by providing training to health staff. To date, midwives, traditional birth attendants and other key workers have completed training in Integrated Management of Childhood Illness and Life saving skills for midwives.
International organizations
Improving family health in Indonesia
