EFFECTS OF THE WORLD BANK’S MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH INTERVENTION ON INDONESIA’S POOR

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic state with the world’s largest Muslim population, is also home to many of the world’s poorest individuals, with 18% of its population living below the Indonesian poverty line, set at approximately $0.55 per person per day. Moreover, Indonesia has suffered from high rates of child and maternal mortality, the reduction of which was the focus of two of the United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These preventable deaths make maternal and child mortality among the top causes of the global burden of disease. Indonesia’s Safe Motherhood Project (SMP) was part of a broader plan to address maternal and reproductive health issues in Indonesia. This research examined the impact of the World Bank’s Safe Motherhood Project Intervention (which targeted access and demand for maternal and child health care among the needy) on the health outcomes of Indonesia’s poor. This study found that, overall, while the maternal and child health intervention evaluated in this study may not have produced statistically significant results, clinically relevant improvements occurred in both the SMP and non-SMP groups in the context of nationwide changes in education and employment among Indonesia’s poor.

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