Diponegoro University (Undip) Semarang in collaboration with the UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) encouraged Posyandu (Integrated Health Center for each neighborhood) to anticipate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children, toddlers and pregnant women regarding nutritional adequacy and health. The collaboration was in the form of Webinar Series 1 held by the LPPM Undip Research Center with the theme “Nutrition Service System during the Covid-19 Pandemic and adaptation of new habits in Central Java” which was held on Friday (7/8/2020).
A researcher from the LPPM Undip Research Center for Health, Drs. Syamsul Huda BM, M.Kes, said that Posyandu transformation was a necessity. Encouragement for Posyandu is based on the fact that the role of Posyandu in monitoring the nutrition and health of children, toddlers and pregnant women is quite significant. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Posyandu activities were disrupted. Therefore, Posyandu is encouraged to carry out a transformation so that it can continue to function as before the COVID-19 pandemic came.
- Karina Widowati from the UNICEF, stated that based on UNICEF data for the Asia Pacific region, it is known that the average number of under-five children with malnutrition reaches 5.3 million, of which Indonesia occupies the highest position who suffers from malnutrition. Meanwhile, the prevalence of acute malnutrition in Indonesia also occupies a high position in Asia Pacific, with a caseload of around 600,000 children under five years old.
Posyandu needs to make a transformation by implementing new habits so that they can continue their activities as usual. The hope is that despite the corona outbreak, the health and welfare of children will be maintained, and pregnant women will remain healthy and give birth to healthy babies as expected. In the context of Posyandu transformation, the collaboration of five sectors is needed, namely the government for policies, academics and universities in terms of ideas and solutions offered, the private sector, the community and the mass media. There is a need for stakeholder synergy, commonly known as the penthahelix.
The COVID-19 pandemic situation has made problems multidimensional. Not only because of social restrictions, but also disruption of the community’s economy can be directly correlated with the community’s ability to get good nutrition. This situation clearly affects the family’s ability to provide balanced nutrition for children, toddlers and pregnant women.
Syamsul Huda emphasized that what need to pursue is the fulfillment of nutrition in children, to prevent not to enter the level of acute malnutrition, because this has three times the potential to cause stunting.
In the webinar, there is also the Head of the Central Java Provincial Government Health Service, dr. Yulianto Prabowo M, Kes. dr. Yulianto said that the impact of COVID-19 pandemic was not only on the Posyandu, but also on Puskesmas (Public Health Centre) services. Yulianto said that around 28% of Puskesmas were unable to operate as usual. The number of visits also fell to 86.9% compared to the previous year, visits by health educators to homes also fell to 42.4%. Consequently, Posyandu activities must also comply with the COVID-19 health protocol to keep the community health monitoring keeps go well.
Source of news: https://www.undip.ac.id/post/15981/undip-dan-unicef-ajak-posyandu-antisipasi-dampak-covid-19-pada-ibu-hamil.html