Airports, ports urged to provide nursery rooms

The Health Ministry has urged airports and ports to provide nursery rooms during the Idul Fitri exodus, when nearly 16 million travelers are expected to leave for their hometowns throughout the country.

The ministry’s director general for disease control and environmental health, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, said on Thursday that breast-feeding mothers deserved a decent nursery room in all situations.

In this year’s exodus period, Tjandra said that Tanjung Emas port in Semarang, Central Java, Tanjung Perak port in Surabaya, East Java, and Merak Port in Banten, were among places that would be providing nursery rooms for mothers. Tjandra said that his office had distributed letters on the provision of nursery rooms to other transportation facilities.

According to the 2012 Government Regulation No. 33 on exclusive breastfeeding, public places, including shopping centers and offices, are encouraged to provide nursery rooms for their customers and employees.

The regulation came after Indonesia saw a low prevalence of exclusive breast-feeding. According to the National Socioeconomic Survey

(Susenas) 2004-2010, the percentage of exclusively breast-fed babies under the age of six months stood at only 33.6 percent in 2010, down from 34.3 percent in 2009. (yps/lfr)