M

embers of integrated health service posts (Posyandu) in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, have started to use a mobile app called mPosyandu to help monitor child growth and development.

To date, 305 members of counselling teams comprising 48 units of Posyandu scattered across 4 subdistricts in the city are using the Android based mobile app to monitor around 3,600 children. There are around 273 Posyandu units in five subdistricts across Pontianak.

Dwi Ratna, a Posyandu officer, said the application had made it easier to analyze and interpret the data of each child. “We can visually explain to parents how their children are growing and what to do to improve their child’s health,” she said.

Pontianak is among three cities that has introduced the Posyandu app, launched in 2016 by humanitarian organization Wahana Visi Indonesia (WVI). The two other cities are Surabaya in East Java and Jakarta. “We hope the program encourages better participation among residents, as it currently stands at only 40 percent,” Yosellina, the team leader of WVI’s Posyandu Pintar, said.