JAKARTA — Free Health Services (LKC) Dompet Dhuafa is holding a series of events for World Breastfeeding Week, which is from August 1-7, 2022. This is an effort by Dompet Dhuafa to continue supporting exclusive breastfeeding for the nation’s future generations. By the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) at the Unicef New York office in 1991, World Breastfeeding Week has become an annual agenda carried out by various countries, one of which is Indonesia. This aims to fight for the fulfillment of children’s rights – for babies up to 24 months or more.
The series of World Breast Milk Week activities by Dompet Dhuafa took place in 12 provincial branches in the LKC Dompet Dhuafa program area. In its implementation, each activity was carried out by involving various stakeholders and the local community. This time LKC carried the theme “Protecting, Facilitating and Providing Full Support for the Success of Breastfeeding in Indonesia”.
In East Jakarta, LKC Dompet Dhuafa Jakarta on Wednesday (3/8/2022) held a series of actions at the Harapan Ibu Integrated Service Post, RW 04, Kampung Tengah, Kramat Jati District, East Jakarta City. In collaboration with local stakeholders, namely the village administration, community health center, and mothers’ cadres, the series of events held included breastfeeding counseling and cooking demonstrations focusing on breast milk booster menus and local wisdom.
Eka Rowiyan, the PIC of this activity, said that the target or objective of the beneficiaries of this action was for 30 mothers/participants to be educated and participate in cooking demonstrations. As for the participants of the counseling activities, LKC Jakarta is targeting 20 mothers/participants to receive guidance on breastfeeding.
“The enthusiasm of the community was so high that in reality, the number of participants exceeded our target. We also shared the results of the cooking demo with the mother and baby,” he said.
One of the beneficiary participants, Subiah (33), a resident of RT 3 RW 4 Kampung Tengah, came with her 6-month-old son, Alvino. According to her, activities like this are important for mothers and toddlers. ‘We as mothers can also understand more. I’m happy when there are educational activities like this,’ she said.
Elvira Sandseri EM, AMG, as a Nutritionist at the Central Village Community Health Center, Keramat Jati District, welcomed this collaborative activity. She explained that in commemoration of World Breast Milk Week, we held a toddler posyandu (integrated service post) action as well as vitamin A supplementation. In addition, she and her colleagues also held a BIAN (National Child Immunization Month) campaign, including measles immunization.
“Especially now that there are many new cases of measles. So, in addition to the integrated health post program, we also hold immunization that is also held nationally. This activity with Dompet Dhuafa is very good and very helpful in monitoring toddlers and pregnant women,” he said.
Later, LKC will also give appreciation to mothers and children who succeed in implementing exclusive breastfeeding, which means not giving babies any food or drink other than breast milk (except medicines, vitamin or mineral drops, expressed breast milk is also allowed). (Dompet Dhuafa / Muthohar)