PASURUAN, EAST JAVA — To create a healthy, bright, and strong generation free from stunting, Dompet Dhuafa through the Free Health Service (LKC) East Java and PT Petrogas Jatim Utama Cendana together with the Pasuruan Regency Health Office held a SIMCETING (Healthy for Pregnant Women to Prevent Stunting) Program Volunteer Training. The activity will take two days on July 10-11, 2023, at the Bangil Health Office Hall, Pasuruan Regency, East Java. The participants were pregnant women in Baujeng Village, Beji District, Pasuruan.
This SIMCETING program includes training for health workers (nakes), gardening training and raising home-scale chickens to fulfill nutrition, health checks for pregnant women, and coaching for pregnant women. This program involves various stakeholders, including the Baujeng Village Government, Beji Health Center, Pasuruan Regency Health Office, and academics (lecturers and doctors).
Dr. Yeni Purnamasari, MKM, said this program is also a development of the Dompet Dhuafa health program, which focuses on stunting prevention efforts during the 1,000 HPK period with intensive assistance to pregnant women. This program will also involve village midwives conducting regular monitoring and communal food security to support the sustainability of access to nutritious food for pregnant women to prevent stunting from the womb.
Baca juga: Dompet Dhuafa Bantu Keluarga Miskin Keluar dari Jeratan Stunting
The focus of the SIMCETING Program is to increase access to family health services, especially for pregnant women with anemia, SEZ, and hypertension health problems, as well as pregnant women in healthy conditions, to prevent stunting from an early age. This program is strengthened by supporting facilities and infrastructure at the Community Health Center (Puskesmas) and Integrated Health Services (Posyandu) to conduct mother classes with quality ANC .Midwives are equipped with knowledge and skills in empowerment, emergency management, and sustainability modeling of community empowerment programs.
Deni Setiawan, SST, M. LING, as the Head of LKC Dompet Dhuafa East Java, explained that one of the innovations of this program, in addition to the class for pregnant women, is the Pregnant Women Nutrition Post, which is a form of intervention in mentoring anemic pregnant women and SEZs. Assistance was carried out in a place for six consecutive days with additional feeding for anemic pregnant women and SEZs. Hopefully, pregnant women or companions of pregnant women can process food in their respective homes in the future. Furthermore, nutritional monitoring of pregnant women is carried out periodically for up to three months.
Another support for families of pregnant women in this program is the existence of a native chicken coop and a communal vegetable garden that can be used as a lesson for the surrounding community, especially for families of pregnant women who will be given native chicken seeds and vegetable gardens placed in their respective yards.
Baca juga: Dompet Dhuafa Bagikan Paket Gizi Sehat untuk Anak-Anak Stunting di Pulau Penawar Rindu
“The series of activities we held seeks to detect stunting early, starting from the upstream, namely pregnant women, especially pregnant women with anemia and SEZ (Chronic Lack of Energy) or nutritional problems that occur in pregnant women for prevention and early treatment. Seeing this and according to the theme of preventing ‘stunting with animal protein,’ LKC-DD East Java tries to encourage families of pregnant women to support their pregnancy by habitually consuming animal protein,” said Deni Setiawan.
Based on data from the 2021 East Java Health Office, the highest prevalence of maternal mortality in Pasuruan City is 288.09 compared to other cities/regencies in East Java Province. In 2019, it was 88.26. This data is one of the reasons that the location must be intervened, considering that the three highest causes of maternal death are preeclampsia/eclampsia, which is 31.15% or as many as 162 people, and bleeding 24.23%, other causes are 23.1% or 120 people.
If you look at the Indonesian Ministry of Health data, around 23% of newborns have been stunted due to pregnant women experiencing malnutrition and anemia. So, the SIMCETING Program is one of the efforts of Dompet Dhuafa and its partner PT Petrogas Jatim Utama Cendana in stunting reduction interventions, especially in Baujeng Village, Pasuruan, East Java.
Baca juga: Percepat Penurunan Stunting, Dompet Dhuafa Sultra Gulirkan Program Pos Gizi
Dr. Adi Widodo Sp.OG(K) said that health workers training is needed to increase the capacity of health workers, especially midwives, in coaching pregnant women. Minimizing anemic pregnant women and SEZs can cause the death of pregnant women during childbirth and minimize low birth weight.
“SIMCETING is an excellent program. He said that not only training health workers but also monitoring the health of pregnant women to empower the community to grow vegetables and chickens in home-scale yards.
Head of Public Health of Pasuruan District Health Office, Endah Yuliastuti ES, S.ST, MM, on her occasion, said, “I hope that this SIMCETING Program is not only in Baujeng Village, but can reach other villages. A very innovative program, we hope that village midwives who participate in socialization and training can later emulate the SIMCETING Program initiated by Dompet Dhuafa and PT Petrogas Jatim Utama Cendana.” (Dompet Dhuafa/LKC/Muthohar)