Midwives and traditional birth attendants partnership, how HSS suppresses mortality

"Work what you should. Don't think for what you are, don't get caught up in routine, create and innovate for the sake of society." That is the message the South Hulu Sungai (HSS) Regent H Akhmad Fikri always delivers to the state civil apparatus (ASN) within his government.


The message implies that all ASNs in the district continue to develop themselves by honing all their creativity.

With this enthusiasm, it is expected that the entire ASN will continue to run handling various issues in the community and provide the best contribution in serving the community through excellent service.

As a result, now various service innovations in HSS get appreciation, not only from the community but from the central government and other regions.

One of the innovation is "Si Midun ke Faskes" (meaning the Partnership Strategy for Traditional Birth Attendants and Midwives Referring Maternity to the Health Facilities). This is one of the five innovations in the health sector that were included in the 2016 National Sinovik TOP 99.

The innovation initiated by the Health Agency in 2012 was a sympathetic aimed at repositioning the role of traditional birth attendants (dukun kampung) in active birth delivery. The goal is finally to reduce maternal and child mortality in order to improve the HDI.

The idea originated from the government's concern for the habits of the people, who preferred the dukun kampung than a midwife. These conditions made the infant and maternal mortality rates were quite high.

Not wanting to break the traditional birth attendants in the community, finally, the regent through the Health Agency made a policy, that midwives and dukun kampung work together in handling birth delivery. Midwives handle the delivery process medically, while dukun kampung help midwives clean mothers and postpartum babies.

In fact, the government provides incentives to dukun kampung who bring pregnant patients who will give birth to the nearest midwife and community health center (puskesmas).

Through this cooperation, finally, differences of opinion that occur in the community can be resolved well, without having to cause undesirable things.

Death rate
Another effort to reduce maternal and infant mortality is to build a village health post (poskesdes) which now exists in almost every village in the HSS.

The Poskesdes, in addition to expanding health services those are not reachable to the community health center, also plays a role in providing pre and postnatal services.

The construction of the poskesdes, which is funded by the local budget (APBD), is also supported by citizen participation in the provision of land in the Sungai Paring, Kandangan Subdistrict.

One of the residents, H Rafi'i, donated his land for the construction of a health post, for the smooth development of these health facilities.

Head of Health Agency Hj Siti Zainab said this partnership was applied through an innovative program "Si Midun to Faskes".

In addition, human resource (HR) improvement was carried out through normal delivery care training and midwife competence training.

Another program, placement of midwives in all villages to help deliver births and monitor pregnant women to regulate the delivery rate.

Reducing maternal and infant mortality actually requires the participation of all parties and so that the community can prosper. Family welfare will make no more children suffer from malnutrition, and pregnant women are also not malnourished.

Based on HSS Health Agency data from 2016, the total cases of maternal mortality (AKI) and infant mortality rate (AKB) were 74 cases, four cases of AKI and 70 cases of AKB. In 2017 the number dropped to 46 cases, namely four cases of AKI and 42 cases of AKB.

In terms of budget, the Health Agency with funds sourced from the Special Allocation Fund (DAK) provides Health Operational Assistance (BOK) and Childbirth Assurance (Jampersal).
 
The HSS regency also synergizes with the South Kalimantan National Zakat Agency (Baznas). Here Baznas has a role to help improve the health and nutrition status of pregnant women, postpartum mothers, infants and toddlers from poor families, and improve access to and quality of health services for pregnant women and infants from poor families.

For the success of implementing the program, the HSS received a national award as TOP 99 and received the 2016 Sinovik award submitted by the Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (PAN-RB) Yuddy Chrisnandi.

Antara Award
The hard work of the South Hulu Sungai Government also received considerable appreciation from the LKBN Antara assessment team of the South Kalimantan Bureau, which will give awards to regional heads who have a strong commitment to improving community welfare.

The Chairman of the Assessment Team Syamsuddin Hasan said several indicators of regional program feasible to receive the Antara Award are consistency in the implementation of the program, it aimed at changing the mindset of the community to be better, and able to encourage the welfare of the community.

In addition, get broad support from all parties involved, and successfully implemented in accordance with the program set.

"Building physically is very easy as far as we have funds, but changing behavior, people's mindset, need courage, policy and a long time, that the program runs well, so the consistency of the program is very important," said Syamsuddin.

Head of the Antara South Kalimantan Bureau Nurul Aulia Badar said, on December 13, 2018 the news agency age is 81 years. During that time, Antara oversaw all development programs in this country, both at the central and regional levels.

Marking the 81st anniversary of LKBN Antara 2018, South Kalimantan Bureau will give awards to regional heads who have implemented programs that are able to improve the welfare of the community in their area based on the Antara perspective.

The award was also in order to support and appreciate the hard work of the district government and regional heads in South Kalimantan, who are committed to serving the community and the homeland.