We live in a century that is quickly being defined by people’s incredible ability to connect with other people and share information across distance and medium. We may receive thousands of messages a day informing and alerting us to everything, from the latest and greatest skin revitalizing products to issues discussed on local, national, and global scales.
Today, we rightly focus on public concerns such as climate change, rising food prices, disease pandemics, and regional turmoil. It seems we have partly left behind the era of ignorance based on a lack of information. On the day I wrote this, I heard an update on stock market prices on a taxi radio; read an analysis of terrorist activity in the local newspaper; saw an interview on the morning news about a human rights organization supporting HIV and AIDS prevention in Africa; and overheard a discussion of workers’ rights in my office — and that was all before 10 a.m.! No lack of information here.
However, in this era rich with information and data, we seem to be missing the biggest health emergency of our time: the stark reality is that 9 million children are dying each year. This silent emergency is claiming the life of a child every 3.5 seconds. Alongside this emergency there is an alarmingly high number of women and young girls that are dying because of complications with pregnancy. When you combine under-five and maternal fatalities in ASEAN member countries alone, they account for double the number of fatalities resulting from the tsunami of 2004. This emergency is bigger than any natural disaster the world has ever seen, yet these child and maternal fatalities are not making headlines.
In Indonesia, over 500 children under 5 die every day. There are wide geographical and socioeconomic variations in child mortality ratios that often get masked beneath national statistics. While the child mortality ratio in Indonesia is 44 per 1,000 live births, among the poorest 20 percent of Indonesians, the rate is 109 per 1,000 live births. In comparison, for the richest 20 percent, it is 29 per 1,000 live births.
In East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province, dire poverty and lack of clean water, sanitation, and health facilities result in a high level of malnutrition among children (32 percent). In North Central Timor, a district of NTT, 37.5 percent of children are underweight and more than half are stunted.
In 2005, the World Health Organization reported that an estimated 536,000 maternal deaths occur each year worldwide. Of that total, 232,000 women died in South and East Asia and the Pacific alone.
This equates to one mother dying every 2.3 minutes. The maternal mortality ratio in Indonesia is still one of the highest among ASEAN member states.
This emergency of child and maternal deaths occurs because of largely preventable causes like pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria. In many cases, simple and low-cost solutions are needed like bed nets, full rounds of immunizations, and hand-washing training. Amazing developments in public health information in recent years mean that health experts know where and why children are dying, and have preventative and inexpensive solutions.
Why has the world and Indonesia failed to significantly reduce and eradicate these largely preventable deaths? The interventions are trumpeted to be simple, cheap, and cost-effective. While the immediate causes of death for children and mothers are pneumonia, diarrhea and malnutrition, there seems to be an overarching killer that poses the biggest threat to ever achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
How do we end this cycle of negligence and disregard and make the lives of children and women a priority? Do we fight preventable deaths through declarations and National Development Plans? Yes, of course. Worldwide and national commitments and promises are needed to unify and solidify the “troops” to tackle this emergency.
Advocacy for improved laws and commitments by the international community and the government of Indonesia are needed. Laws need to include specific accountability measures. In Indonesia, district governments need programs that have the ability to measure effectiveness, track progress, and respond to results. We need to sharpen this tool, but that alone is not enough.
Do we wage this fight by raising awareness among ordinary citizens of our country?
Do we forge into battle with money, empowerment plans, and education? Yes, yes, and yes. With five years left until 2015, when child and maternal mortality goals need to be met around the world and in Indonesia, it is time to get serious, expansive and creative with our strategies.
What strategy will you use to fight your part of this emergency? How will you wage war against these preventable fatalities of children and women around you in this country? I personally have chosen the tactic of response over the option of disregard. By volunteering, by educating myself on the health issues of this country, and by talking about these issues with those around me, I hope to make a small difference for the children and women in this country who are fighting for their lives against preventable killers.
These children and women need to become our priorities. The time for disregard and ignorance is over. Let’s join hands with all those who are already fighting this fight, individually and collectively committing to hear and respond; read and respond; watch and respond. This violation of children’s rights must stop.
The writer is a volunteer at World Vision Indonesia. She is a graduate of Calvin College with expertise in political science and international relations.
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