A Few Villages in South Sulawesi Lack Midwives
Friday, 20 November, 2009 | 16:22 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Makassar:A few out of a total of 2.879 villages, including those in remote islands of South Sulawesi lack in midwives. There are only 5.000 midwives working in these areas. There are 297 remote islands in the province, 250 of which are inhabited.



To deal with this shortage, the provincial government plans to improve the transportation system from the villages to the remote islands. “We need midwives to provide information about health issues, especially about births,” said South Sulawesi deputy governor, Agus Arifin Nu'mang, when he opened the regional meeting of the Indonesian Midwife Association yesterday.



The South Sulawesi branch of the Indonesian Midwife Association chief, Norma Tajuddin, confirmed the statement, adding that out of the 5.000 midwives, only 762 are certified.



According to Agus, based on 2003 data, mothers mortality rate during delivery was 307 per 100.000 births. This figure went down to 228.000 people in 2007.



Meanwhile, infant mortality rate in 2003 was 35 per 1.000 births. This went down to 34 in 2007. The mortality rate of children under five was 46 per 1.000 births in 2003, while in 2007 it went down to 44 children.



Norma added that 46 percent of the mother and infant mortality rates were caused by severe bleeding during birth.



According to Norma, increasing the number of midwives could be one of the solutions towards reducing mother and infant mortality rates because midwives can disseminate Information to mothers before and after giving birth.



According to Health Officer, Rahmat Latief, the need for midwives can also be seen based on the population ratio. “Midwives must be provided according to the region’s capability as well as at the request of the government and private hospitals,” he said.



A village health post must have one midwife, Rahmat said. Yet, there are 2.022 village health posts and 380 community health centers in this province, not all of which have midwives.


HAPSA MARALA