Jhpiego mobilizes health care services for families affected by Java earthquake
01 June 2006
Jhpiego, an international non-profit affiliate of The Johns Hopkins
University, is actively mobilized to meet the health care needs of women and their families
arising from the 27 May earthquake in Yogyakarta, Central Java. Jhpiego has worked in
partnership with the Government of Indonesia for the past 30 years to increase access and
reduce barriers to high-quality health care services for women and families. As such,
Jhpiego has joined an emergency health assessment team in partnership with the World Health
Organization, the United Nations and Ikatan Bidan Indonesia (the Indonesian Midwives Association).
In the coming week, this team will make recommendations back to the Ministry
of Health regarding women’s health needs to be addressed in both the immediate and medium
term. When we receive the data back from this assessment we anticipate that there will be
many of the same issues and needs as those that arose in the aftermath of the
Aceh earthquake
and tsunami.
Since midwives provide approximately 90% of the health care services to women
and children in Indonesia, their role is critical during such emergency situations. Jhpiego,
with long-lasting relationships with the midwives of Indonesia, will be looking to assist
them as they rebuild their services. Once the data are available, we will be preparing a
more concrete plan of action, in discussion with the Indonesian Midwives Association, the
Indonesia Ministry of Health, Muhammadiyah and others. Muhammadiyah is one of the largest
Muslim nongovernmental organizations in Indonesia and is headquartered in Yogyakarta. They
are anxious to address the emergency and medium-term health needs in the affected
communities.
In the past five years, Jhpiego has responded to Indonesia's emergency needs
during SARS and the tsunami in Aceh, and most recently has helped to develop
infection
prevention and control guidelines for health care facilities in the event of an avian
flu epidemic.
During the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, Jhpiego worked collaboratively
with the Indonesian Midwives Association to: mobilize midwife volunteers in providing
services for mothers and babies in camps for internally displaced persons; clean and
re-equip the maternity ward at the largest referral hospital; provide supplies and equipment
to midwives; enable private practice midwives to provide free care for pregnant mothers and
newborns; re-equip midwifery schools; and provide trauma counseling to midwives affected
by the disaster, among other initiatives. In the aftermath of this recent earthquake, the
assessment team may identify needs for very similar types of assistance.
About Jhpiego
For 35 years, Jhpiego, (pronounced "ja-pie-go"), has empowered front-line health
workers by designing and implementing simple, low-cost, hands-on solutions that
strengthen the delivery of health care services, following the
household-to-hospital continuum of care. We partner with community- to
national-level organizations to build sustainable, local capacity through
advocacy, policy and guidelines development, and quality and performance
improvement approaches.
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