Action - Nutrition International - Indonesia - Maternal Nutrition Program - Nutrition counselling - Pregnant women (PW)

Programme: Nutrition International - Indonesia - Maternal Nutrition Program

Programme description

Pregnancy and the postnatal period are critical times for ensuring the health and wellbeing of women and their children. Anaemia during pregnancy is common and can have serious consequences for both mother and child, including increased risk of low birthweight and preterm birth, as well as maternal and perinatal mortality.[1&2] Iron deficiency is a major cause of anaemia among pregnant women.[3] Iron requirements increase substantially during pregnancy and it is difficult to meet these needs with food alone. Based on evidence of reduced risk of anaemia, iron deficiency and other adverse outcomes including having a low birthweight baby, WHO recommends daily iron and folic acid (IFA) supplementation throughout pregnancy, together with appropriate nutrition counselling.[4]  This is in addition to a series of other recommendations for nutrition interventions as part of antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience and other important maternal and child outcomes.[4]

Nutrition International works in collaboration with government and other partners to improve maternal nutrition through enhancing the provision, quality and integration of health and nutrition services and empowering women and their families to seek care and adopt healthy behaviours.   

Nutrition International contributes to improving Maternal Nutrition in Indonesia by:

  • Collaborating with the Directorate of Community Nutrition, Directorate of Health Promotion, Directorate of Maternal and Child Health, and the Directorate of Pharmacy under the Indonesian Ministry of Health at the national level; and the Provincial Health Offices and District Health Offices at the provincial and district levels, as well as UNICEF, to increase pregnant women’s adherence to daily supplementation of iron and folic acid (IFA) and ANC attendance. 
  • Promoting an enabling environment through advocacy among key decision-makers for commitment to Maternal Nutrition.
  • Providing technical assistance for scaling up best practices.
  • Strengthening the supply chain.
  • Capacity-building of health care managers, midwives, and service providers at facility and community levels, through training and mentoring/supportive supervision.
  • Developing and implementing a behavior change communication strategy.
  • Supporting program monitoring and assessment, and use of this information to inform decision-making.

This program builds on NI’s successful demonstration project in two districts (Banten and West Java) from 2011-2014. The program has been scaled up to a further 77 districts, in 6 provinces, namely Banten, West Java, East Java, West Nusa Tengarra (WNT), East Nusa Tengarra (ENT) and Riau.

 

Programme type

Community/sub-national

References

  1. Allen, L. H. (2000). Anemia and iron deficiency: Effects on pregnancy outcome. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,71(5). doi:10.1093/ajcn/71.5.1280s
  2. Black, R. E., Victora, C. G., Walker, S. P., Bhutta, Z. A., Christian, P., Onis, M. D., . . . Uauy, R. (2013). Maternal and child undernutrition and overweight in low-income and middle-income countries. The Lancet,382(9890), 427-451. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(13)60937-x
  3. WHO. The global prevalence of anaemia in 2011. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2015. 
  4. WHO. (2016). WHO recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience. (Rep.). doi:http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/250796/9789241549912-eng...

For more information:

Target group: 
Pregnant women (PW)

Revision log

DateUserLogState
Tue, 10/23/2018 - 16:28zillmerkpublishedpublished
Tue, 10/23/2018 - 14:57GINAadminNIpublishedneeds_review
Mon, 10/22/2018 - 18:51zillmerkpublishedpublished
Mon, 10/22/2018 - 16:01GINAadminNIEdited by GINAadminNI.needs_review
Mon, 10/22/2018 - 15:55GINAadminNIAction created by GINAadminNI.draft