A cross-sectional analysis of traditional medicine use for malaria alongside free antimalarial drugs treatment amongst adults in high-risk malaria endemic provinces of Indonesia

© 2017 Suswardany et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Background The level of traditional medicine use, particularly Jamu use, in Indonesia is substantial. Indonesians do not always seek timely treatment for malaria and may seek self-medication via traditional medicine. This paper reports findings from the first focused analyses of traditional medicine use for malaria in Indonesia and the first such analyses worldwide to draw upon a large sample of respondents across high-risk malaria endemic areas. Methods A sub-study of the Indonesia Basic Health Research/Riskesdas Study 2010 focused on 12,226 adults aged 15 years and above residing in high-risk malaria-endemic provinces. Logistic regression was undertaken to determine the significant associations for traditional medicine use for malaria symptoms. Findings Approximately one in five respondents use traditional medicine for malaria symptoms and the vast majority experiencing multiple episodes of malaria use traditional medicine alongside free antimalarial drug treatments. Respondents consuming traditional medicine for general health/common illness purposes every day (odds ratio: 3.75, 95% Confidence Interval: 2.93 4.79), those without a hospital in local vicinity (odds ratio: 1.31, 95% Confidence Interval: 1.10 1.57), and those living in poorer quality housing, were more likely to use traditional medicine for malaria symptoms. Conclusion A substantial percentage of those with malaria symptoms utilize traditional medicine for treating their malaria symptoms. In order to promote safe and effective malaria treatment, all providing malaria care in Indonesia need to enquire with their patients about possible traditional medicine use

The Antenatal Care at the Community Health Center With Basic Emergency Obstetric Neonatal Services, Karawang District, Indonesia

Karawang district had maternal death cases increasing from 2010 to 2011with total of 47 maternal deaths and 51 maternal deaths respectively. Bleeding, pre-eclampsia, infection, abortion and others are the maternal causes of death. Maternal mortality remains a strategic health care issue in Karawang district because inaccurate data and information related with maternal health and also lack of antenatal care pattern in community health centers. This study aimed to identify the antenatal care pattern in five community health centers (CHC) with basic emergency obstetric neonatal services in Karawang district. This study used cross sectional design by using quantitative and qualitative approach. Fifty mother informants and six midwives in CHC and Karawang District Hospital were involved from April to October 2011. This study finds that the pattern of antenatal care visits increased for fourth trimester but first trimester was low, while geographical conditions as well as technical competence of midwives were lacking behind. Technical training and counselling for the family became a priority recommendation from this study. The antenatal care pattern in five community health centers with basic emergency obstetric neonatal services increased for fourth trimester with majority of delivery assisted by midwives

Local Government and Community Leaders' Perspectives on Child Health and Mortality and Inequity Issues in Rural Eastern Indonesia

Since 2001 a decentralization policy has increased the responsibility placed on local government for improving child health in Indonesia. This paper explores local government and community leaders’ perspectives on child health in a rural district in Indonesia, using a qualitative approach. Focus group discussions were held in May 2013. The issues probed relate to health personnel skills and motivation, service availability, the influence of traditional beliefs, and health care and gender inequity. The participants identify weak leadership, inefficient health management and inadequate child health budgets as important issues. The lack of health staff in rural areas is seen as the reason for promoting the use of traditional birth attendants. Midwifery graduates and village midwives are perceived as lacking motivation to work in rural areas. Some local traditions are seen as detrimental to child health. Husbands provide little support to their wives. These results highlight the need for a harmonization and alignment of the efforts of local government agencies and local community leaders to address child health care and gender inequity issues

Fathers and infant health and survival in Ende, a rural district of Eastern Indonesia

Studies have shown that child survival can be greater when fathers are more highly involved in infant care than when they are less involved. This paper investigates fathers’ and paternal grandmothers’ knowledge and experiences relating to infants’ survival in a rural district of Eastern Indonesia, a context for which such information is lacking. Twenty fathers or replacement relatives participated in in-depth interviews. Most had very limited knowledge of the danger signs of childhood illness. None of participants had received child health-related information from local health personnel. Male-dominated forms of decision-making in relation to infant health care are the norm. Inadequacies in the child health services, such as difficulties in accessing health facilities, health personnel unavailability and discomfort during delivery, remain as challenges. Fathers appear to rely largely on their wives for their infant health and survival knowledge and have little involvement with their infants. They see their roles in terms of providing economic support and basic care for their infants. Grandmothers are seen as a major source of health information by fathers, but have limited knowledge of infant survival. The findings demonstrate a need for child health promotion programs and campaigns, including the safe motherhood program, to include fathers as well as mothers, in order to increase their awareness of infant survival and involvement in infant raising, and to persuade them to allow mothers greater scope to make child health-seeking decisions, especially when children require emergency treatment

Ensuring healthy lives: Saving lives at birth in Indonesia

Programs for saving lives at birth have been implemented in many countries, especially in the less developed countries, such as Indonesia, where maternal and child deaths are still too high. Internationally, ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all is one of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) launched in 2015. The UN SDGs is a global plan of action for prosperity, people, and the planet that presents an opportunity to mobilise both government and society to ensure no one is left behind and equality for all. This chapter represents an attempt to understand the varying results achieved at a sub-regional level by a saving lives at birth program in the eastern part of Indonesia. Through this case study, we focus on identifying the barriers to program participation and the enablers that successfully prompt women to give birth at a health facility. We also explore two theoretical frameworks used in business and economics—social marketing for health promotion and shared leadership—to ascertain whether they might improve the region’s saving lives program

Community engagement in maternal and newborn health in eastern Indonesia

In Indonesia, high rates of maternal and child mortality can be attributed, in part at least, to a lack of access to medical facilities, especially in rural communities. In response, the Indonesian government developed a program to address the high rate of home births. A key element of the program involved drawing upon the contribution of community members to assist with facility-based births of pregnant women in their community. The success of the program was attributed to active participation from many groups, including community members, government officials and health-care workers who collaborated successfully to achieve a reduction in the maternal and infant mortality rates

Characteristics, availability and uses of vital registration and other mortality data sources in post-democracy South Africa

The value of good-quality mortality data for public health is widely acknowledged. While effective civil registration systems remains the ‘gold standard’ source for continuous mortality measurement, less than 25% of deaths are registered in most African countries. Alternative data collection systems can provide mortality data to complement those from civil registration, given an understanding of data source characteristics and data quality. We aim to document mortality data sources in post-democracy South Africa; to report on availability, limitations, strengths, and possible complementary uses of the data; and to make recommendations for improved data for mortality measurement. Civil registration and alternative mortality data collection systems, data availability, and complementary uses were assessed by reviewing blank questionnaires, death notification forms, death data capture sheets, and patient cards; legislation; electronic data archives and databases; and related information in scientific journals, research reports, statistical releases, government reports and books. Recent transformation has enhanced civil registration and official mortality data availability. Additionally, a range of mortality data items are available in three population censuses, three demographic surveillance systems, and a number of national surveys, mortality audits, and disease notification programmes. Child and adult mortality items were found in all national data sources, and maternal mortality items in most. Detailed cause-of-death data are available from civil registration and demographic surveillance. In a continent often reported as lacking the basic data to infer levels, patterns and trends of mortality, there is evidence of substantial improvement in South Africa in the availability of data for mortality assessment. Mortality data sources are many and varied, providing opportunity for comparing results and improved public health planning. However, more can and must be done to improve mortality measurement by improving data quality, triangulating data, and expanding analytic capacity. Cause data, in particular, must be improved