‘Aisyiyah and Puskesmas Ciranjang Joint Commitment in Addressing Women’s Reproductive Health Issues was Officially Declared

Health has been one of the focus that ‘Aisyiyah set, especially health for women of Dhuafa Mustadh’afin or poor women. Women’s health is still falls behind public’s attention and awareness in Indonesia, specifically reproductive health. Meanwhile, according to existing data, some diseases which are responsible as the biggest cause of women’s death in developing countries—including Indonesia—are closely related to the reproductive system, name them cervical and breast cancer, as well as maternal death. Thus, reproductive health services, especially for women need to be improved, both in terms of access and quality of services delivery. In order to bring the improvements, ‘Aisyiyah Regional Leader (PDA) of Cianjur in MAMPU Program’s assistance through ‘Aisyiyah Branch Leader (PCA) Ciranjang built its partnership with Puskesmas Ciranjang and made it official through a MoU signing.

Addressed by Titin Suastini, Cianjur PDA Leader that in the MoU stated that Puskesmas (public health center) Ciranjang together with ‘Aisyiyah will work together to improve the public health, particularly in reproductive health. “Puskesmas will involve ‘Aisyiyah in their public health promotion activities. Puskesmas will also involve ‘Aisyiyah to facilitate them in addressing further public health problems. The point in the MoU is that ther will be a synergy between Puskesmas and ‘Aisyiyah’s activities,” Titin explained.

The MoU is made after ‘Aisyiyah team found numerous health problems happening in Ciranjang that need to be addressed with joint commitment from Puskesmas and the other institutions that are concerned with and committed to helping resolve this issues, like what is ‘Aisyiyah doing in Ciranjang as the most populated Kecamatan (sub-district) in Cianjur now. “What we found in the field are high prevalence of maternal and infant’s death, as well as social problems such as high numbers of low education, beggar, and street children,” said Titin. Those are the underlying factors of this partnership agreement between ‘Aisyiyah and Puskesmas Ciranjang. “Alhamdulillah, Puskesmas Ciranjang are willing to cooperate and they are welcome for any insight from ‘Aisyiyah. They also felt being helped with ‘Aisyiyah’s involvement,” she continued.

The MoU was signed on last Friday (24/3) in Puskesmas Ciranjang by Lela Mardiah as the Leader of PCA Ciranjang, and the Head of Puskesmas Ciranjang, dr. Elvira Firdaus. The first agenda well after the MoU signing will be filled by VIA test or Pap Smear which will take place in Desa Kertajaya on April 28^th 2017.

Written by Suri Putri (‘Aisyiyah)