61st National Nutrition Day : Anemia in Adolescent
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The nutritional problem in adolescents often neglected is the lack of intake of micronutrients, one of the most common manifestations of anemia. Anemia is a body condition in which a person has a hemoglobin (Hb) level in the blood that is lower than normal (<11 g / dL). Low hemoglobin levels describe if the body lacks red blood cells so that oxygen forces into the body are reduced, making sufferers easily tired, less excited, dizzy, pale, irregular heartbeat, and chest pain. The 2018 Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) revealed that the prevalence of anemia in adolescents is 32%, which means 3-4 out of 10 Indonesian adolescents suffer from anemia. The incidence of anemia in adolescents is influenced by several factors including unbalanced nutritional intake, especially the lack of iron intake, and other factors such as worms.
Adolescents who suffer from anemia, especially adolescent girls, as adults and pregnant will be at risk of giving birth to babies who have nutritional and health problems such as growth problems, low birth weight (LBW), premature birth, infant mortality, perinatal mortality, and susceptibility to infectious diseases due to decreased endurance of mother and baby 5. These various problems are a manifestation of the prolonged condition of anemia and chronic energy deficiency (KEK). Generations born to anemic mothers have a greater risk of suffering from a disease in adulthood, have lower cognitive abilities and productivity, so they have lower competitiveness in the world of work in the future which will directly affect their survival as adults, especially on the ability to live properly.
This problem has become a “vicious circle” of adolescent nutrition problems in Indonesia. If not handled seriously and with full commitment, the prevalence of stunting and anemia among women of childbearing age will continue to increase. Therefore, to create an accomplished millennial generation, start by caring about adolescent nutrition problems, especially anemia. If since adolescence they have had sufficient nutritional intake, then they can give birth to future generations of a disease-free nation and can improve the quality of human resources in Indonesia.
Coinciding with the 61st National Nutrition Day commemoration on January 25, 2021, which carries the big theme “Healthy Youth, Anemia Free” with the slogan “Balanced Nutrition, Healthy Youth, Strong Indonesia” has a goal that focuses on overcoming anemia in adolescents during the pandemic. COVID-19 through education, dissemination of information, and specific health promotion on the prevention of anemia during a pandemic encourage the active role of the community as well as commitment and cross-sector cooperation in overcoming anemia in adolescents. Also, iron supplementation programs for adolescent girls have been carried out and continue to be implemented even during the COVID-19 pandemic as an effort to reduce the prevalence of anemia in adolescents.
The 61st National Nutrition Day commemoration can be used as a momentum for all of us to raise awareness and commitment to create a nation with a healthy and anemia-free generation through various efforts and health programs that can answer all the challenges of nutrition problems. Certainly, this will be achieved with a lot of support from various parties and participation from the community.
COVID-19 during Pregnancy: Recognize the Risk of COVID-19 in Pregnant Women
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COVID-19 pandemic is still a concern for everyone, including vulnerable groups such as pregnant women. The concern arises about the possible impact on maternal health and fetal development if exposed to and infected with the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). During pregnancy, there are changes in the immune system that make pregnant women more susceptible to infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The importance of recognizing the early signs and symptoms of COVID-19 transmission is a step that every mother must understand in order to minimize the manifestations of risk arising from this viral infection. Several studies have shown that pregnant women with COVID-19 are less likely to develop certain symptoms such as fever and muscle aches than women who are not pregnant. The severity of symptoms of COVID-19 in pregnant women can be influenced by several risk factors including older pregnant women, over nutritional status, and comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension.
The impact of COVID-19 infection on pregnant women has been revealed from several research results, although it is not yet clear what impact it has on the health of newborns. Several things are known based on research results including pregnant women with COVID-19 are at risk of giving birth to premature babies. the likelihood of a newborn being exposed to COVID-19 from its mother is only 2% to 5%. Research also reveals that maternal mortality due to COVID-19 only occurs in women with comorbidities and that more deaths in infants are caused by premature conditions.
Exposure to and infection with COVID-19 in pregnant women can also have an impact on the psychological side of the mother. Pregnant women who are confirmed positive for COVID-19 are prone to experiencing stressful times and feeling anxious about their health, their unborn baby, and the people around them. According to Lopez et al from the Journal of Psychiatry Research, during a pandemic, pregnant women experience progressive increases in anxiety and depression. This anxiety comes from many thoughts about preserving the pregnancy, the birth process, and the babysitting process during the pandemic. In addition, the conditions that require the mother to physically isolate the mother will be more saturated and stressed. This condition if it continues can have an impact on the fetus it is carrying. Depressed mothers are more likely to have babies with low birth weight and prematurity.
To reduce this condition, mothers can do several things, including implementing a healthy lifestyle while at home, such as doing light exercise, applying the principles of balanced nutrition, getting enough fluids, and getting enough sleep. In addition, interacting with family and closest friends online can help mothers stay motivated and stay positive.
Therefore, the implementation of health protocols by pregnant women must still be done. Some preventive efforts to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 that can be done include: limiting close contact with people who are sick or have symptoms of COVID-19, wearing a mask when outside the home, regularly washing hands with soap for at least 20 seconds, or using a hand sanitizer with an alcohol content of at least 60%, and consume foods with balanced nutrition.
In addition to these prevention efforts, pregnant women are advised to take a COVID-19 test at the beginning of the first trimester of pregnancy and in the final trimester, which is about one to two weeks before delivery. This is done to detect any exposure to or viral infection in pregnant women and those who are about to give birth in an effort to prevent the risk of transmission of the virus. In addition, pregnant women are still advised to make regular pregnancy visits to health workers to monitor the health of the mother and fetus.
The Summit Institute for Development (SID) as a non-profit organization that focuses on improving maternal and child health is committed to playing an active role in ensuring that pregnant women receive comprehensive care during pregnancy and after childbirth, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts are being made to include the use of the OpenSRP digital platform that can help frontline health workers in providing integrated services, as well as conducting an assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on prenatal care and pregnancy outcomes.
COVID-19 during Pregnancy: Recognize the Risk of COVID-19 in Pregnant Women
Leave a Comment
COVID-19 pandemic is still a concern for everyone, including vulnerable groups such as pregnant women. The concern arises about the possible impact on maternal health and fetal development if exposed to and infected with the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). There are changes in the immune system that make pregnant women more susceptible to infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus during pregnancy.
The importance of recognizing the early signs and symptoms of COVID-19 transmission is a step that every mother must understand to minimize the manifestations of risk arising from this viral infection. Several studies have shown that pregnant women with COVID-19 are less likely to develop certain symptoms such as fever and muscle aches than women who are not pregnant. The severity of symptoms of COVID-19 in pregnant women can be influenced by several risk factors including older pregnant women, over nutritional status, and comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension.
The impact of COVID-19 infection on pregnant women has been revealed from several research results, although it is not yet clear what impact it has on the health of newborns. Based on research results, several things that have been known include pregnant women with COVID-19 at risk of giving birth to premature babies. The likelihood of a newborn being infected with COVID-19 from its mother is only 2% to 5%. Research also reveals that maternal mortality due to COVID-19 only occurs in women with comorbidities and that more deaths in infants are caused by premature conditions.
Exposure to and infection with COVID-19 in pregnant women can also have an impact on the psychological side of the mother. Pregnant women who are confirmed positive for COVID-19 are prone to experiencing stressful times and feeling anxious about their health, their unborn baby, and the people around them. According to Moralez et al in the Journal of Psychiatry Research, pregnant women experience a progressive increase in anxiety and depression during the pandemic. This anxiety comes from many thoughts about preserving the pregnancy, the birth process, and the babysitting process during the pandemic. Besides, the conditions that require the mother to physically isolate the mother will be more saturated and stressed. This condition if it continues can have an impact on the fetus it is carrying. Depressed mothers are more likely to have babies with low birth weight and prematurity.
To reduce this condition, mothers can do several things including implementing a healthy lifestyle while at home, such as doing light exercise, applying the principles of balanced nutrition, getting enough fluids, and getting enough sleep. Besides, interacting with family and closest friends online can help mothers stay motivated and stay positive.
Therefore, the implementation of health protocols by pregnant women must still be done. Some preventive efforts to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 that can be done include: limiting close contact with people who are sick or have symptoms of COVID-19, wearing a mask when outside the home, regularly washing hands with soap for at least 20 seconds, or using a hand sanitizer with an alcohol content of at least 60%, and consume foods with balanced nutrition.
In addition to these preventive efforts, pregnant women are advised to take a COVID-19 test at the beginning of the first trimester of pregnancy and in the final trimester, which is about one to two weeks before delivery. This is done to detect any exposure to or viral infection in pregnant women and those who are about to give birth to prevent the risk of transmission of the virus. Also, pregnant women are still advised to make regular pregnancy visits to health workers to monitor the health of the mother and fetus.
Summit Institute for Development (SID) as a non-profit organization that focuses on improving maternal and child health is committed to playing an active role in ensuring that pregnant women receive comprehensive care during pregnancy and after childbirth, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts are being made to include the use of the OpenSRP digital platform that can help frontline health workers provide integrated services, as well as to conduct an assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on prenatal care and pregnancy outcomes.
Reference:
– Alberca R, Pereira N, Oliveira L, Gozzi-Silva S, Sato M. Pregnancy, Viral Infection, and COVID-19. Frontiers in Immunology. 2020;11
-Gold K, Marcus S. Effect of maternal mental illness on pregnancy outcomes. Expert Review of Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2008;3(3):391-401
-Hessami K, Homayoon N, Hashemi A, Vafaei H, Kasraeian M, Asadi N. COVID-19, and maternal, fetal and neonatal mortality: a systematic review. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine. 2020;:1-6
-López-Morales H, del Valle M, Canet-Juric L, Andrés M, Galli J, Poó F et al. Mental health of pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study. Psychiatry Research. 2021;295:113567
-Mayo Clinic. How COVID-19 (coronavirus) affects babies and children [Internet]. Mayo Clinic. 2021 [cited 13 January 2021]. Available from: https://www.mayoclinic.org/coronavirus-in-babies-and-children/art-20484405
-WHO. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Pregnancy and childbirth [Internet]. WHO.int. 2021 [cited 13 January 2021]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-pregnancy-and-childbirth
-WHO. Increasing understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women and their babies [Internet]. WHO.int. 2021 [cited 13 January 2021]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news/item/01-09-2020-new-research-helps-to-increase-understanding-of-the-impact-of-covid-19-for-pregnant-women-and-their-babies
World AIDS Day 2020
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Every year, on 1 December the world celebrates World AIDS Day. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a disease caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which will attack the human immune system so that it will reduce its optimal function in providing protection for the body from various diseases. Through this commemoration, the public is invited to raise awareness of the HIV / AIDS epidemic and its transmission.
AIDS can affect anyone regardless of age, sex, and social status, including risk groups such as pregnant women. There are many cases where a mother does not know that she has HIV. This is because there are no symptoms of HIV / AIDS and the mother does not immediately get tested. Even though there are no symptoms, this virus can still survive in the body until finally a housewife is found to be pregnant. Quoting from the UNICEF website, pregnant women have a 23-25% risk of transmitting the HIV virus to their unborn child. This risk can increase if the pregnant woman does not immediately get treatment in the form of antiretroviral drug therapy (ARV). Through ARV therapy, the risk of transmission can be reduced and prevented.
It should be noted that HIV / AIDS is not only transmitted through sexual contact but can also be transmitted through the use of non-sterile needles before pregnancy. In addition, the birthing process can also carry the risk of transmitting this virus directly from mother to baby. Until now, there has not been found a treatment therapy that can cure HIV / AIDS completely, so the handling of this disease needs to be done early to minimize its impact. Even if this condition is not immediately known, various health problems and dangers can lurk pregnant women and their babies and even cause death. Therefore, the health of the mother from the beginning of pregnancy to postpartum must be continuously monitored by health personnel.
To facilitate monitoring of the health of pregnant women, the Summit Institute of Development (SID) contributes to assisting health workers, especially midwives, in this monitoring process. Through the implementation of an application platform called OpenSRP. This application can record the mother’s health history during pregnancy, as well as reminders of pregnancy visits so that the condition of pregnant women can be monitored properly. By using technology assistance, health problems that can lead to complications and even death can be effectively prevented. Hopefully, with this OpenSRP application, SID can help the Indonesian government in monitoring the health of pregnant women effectively and reducing the morbidity and mortality rates of mothers and children significantly.
SID in Saving Brains Workshop: Data Preparation, Analysis, and Writing
Leave a CommentEarly Childhood Development (ECD) has been known to play a key role in determining whether a child will achieve his or her full potential. Early years of childhood is a crucial period since the events that occur during this stage have a lasting impact on child’s development throughout his or her life. Various programs on ECD with a holistic and integrated approach have been widely implemented in many countries but the participation and program coverage are limited. At this point, high quality of data analysis became essential to understand how these programs can have an impact and to provide an evidence-based policy on ECD, particularly in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the opportunities to conduct high-quality study and data analysis are lacking.
Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) together with its partners who are members of Saving Brains support ideas to improve early brain and child development globally. Given GCC’s mandate to create sustainable impact at scale, catalyse both national and global policy as well as build capacity of researcher in LMICs, an intensive 4-day virtual workshop entitled “Saving Brains Workshop for Data Preparation, Analysis, and Writing” was held from November 9th to 12th, 2020. Targeted participants of this workshop were grantees from GCC and selected investigators from Indonesia. There were 15 teams of 2 persons from each selected project team who participated in this workshop.
The workshop was supported by the GCC Platform Team and the Indonesia Medical Education and Research Institute (IMERI) at the University of Indonesia Faculty of Medicine Online Course Facility. Summit Institute of Development (SID) provided some additional support which includes technical assistance and also became a facilitator during this virtual workshop.
The workshop targeted enhancement of the core skills of participants in the analysis and interpretation of ECD data, writing, and communicating findings. During the 4-days intensive workshop, participants joined as project teams and they worked directly with their own data with the goal to maximize the value of their project and to develop generally applicable skills. Prior to the workshop, preparatory work had been done by participants, including a series of meetings to familiarize project team members with the basic data preparation and analysis and report writing. During the workshop, each project team was guided through various processes including data preparation, assessment, and analysis, as well as manuscripts and report writing. A peer mentor was assigned to each team to guide them and work closely with each project team during the peer mentoring session.
The outcome of this workshop was valid analysis results of each project data and a draft manuscript. It is hoped that the presence of this event can support drive the establishment of evidence-based policies that are targeted and sustainable, especially related to ECD in order to optimize the potential of brain development and learning abilities of children in the future, ensure that every young child will reach their full potential.