MATERNAL HEALTH INTERVENTION IN INDONESIA
Indonesia has and continues to suffer from high rates of child and maternal mortality, the reduction of which is the focus of two of the United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Approximately 80% of all maternal deaths and complications are avoidable, as are over half of all infant and child deaths. The Indonesian government has focused on development policy for its poor since the 1970’s, with a poverty reduction strategy that has included high quality data collection to allow for rigorous, quantitative assessment of policy effectiveness. Indonesia’s Safe Motherhood Project (SMP) is part of a broader plan to address maternal and reproductive health issues in Indonesia. Through this project and others, the Indonesian government has confirmed its commitment to changing the institutional structure and capacity for health improvement for women and children. Our study 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. We found that that 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.