The Threat Of Children's Health In The Midst Of The Sumatra Disaster

JAKARTA The Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI) also asked the government to determine floods and landslides in Sumatra as a national disaster, because the disaster had a tremendous impact on children's health services.

Data from the National Disaster Management Agency as of Wednesday (3/12/2025) afternoon stated that the number of victims who died from floods and landslides in North Sumatra, West Sumatra, and Aceh Provinces reached 770 people, and 463 people were declared missing. This ecological disaster also left around 2,600 people injured and more than 570,700 people displaced.

Since the flood hit a number of Sumatra areas at the end of last November, children have become one of the groups prone to infection with various diseases, such as diarrhea and skin infections. This fact at the same time dismissed the notion that a terrible situation only appeared on social media.

"We believe this is not only a scene on social media, but indeed in the real world there is also a scene. And hopefully the Minister can also include it as a national disaster," said IDAI Piprim Chairman Basarah Yanuarso at an online press conference for the Sumatra disaster emergency response.

The floods in several areas have indeed begun to recede, but Piprim reminded that post-flood conditions are not ideal for health, especially for children. According to IDAI records, the most common diseases experienced by children in evacuations include upper respiratory tract infections (ARI), diarrhea, to pneumonia.

This is in line with the studies of David L Patientson, Hugh Wright, and Patrick N A Harris in a journal entitled "Health Risks of Flood Disasters", which shows that skin infections, diarrhea, and respiratory infections usually appear in the first 10 days of flooding.

This disease, said Piprim, was caused by contact between children and flood water contaminated with dangerous germs. A number of these diseases have also attacked a group of children in several flood areas.

Deputy Chairperson of IDAI North Sumatra Eka Airlangga reported that as of November 30, 92 cases of ARI, 23 cases of diarrhea, 42 skin fungi infections (tiners), and four cases of bacterial dermatitis in children were recorded. Meanwhile, in Medan, 43 cases of ARI, six cases of diarrhea, and four cases of tinea in children were found.

"In general, ARI diseases and sanitation-based diseases such as diarrhea, then skin wounds, dominate cases in refugee camps in North Sumatra. Until now, we have carried out treatment, including the management of clean water supply in refugee camps," said dr. Eka.

Meanwhile, in Padang, there were 80 cases of ARI in children, four cases of diarrhea, six cases of skin disease, and four cases of morphbili (impact).

The head of the IDAI Disaster Management Task Force, dr. Kurniawan Taufiq Kadafi said, in addition to disease infections, other problems that have the potential to attack children who are flood victims are mental health, growth and development, and potential exposure to violence when they are in refugee camps.

"Children are a comprehensive unit, including aspects of growth and development. Not to mention the educational aspects of children who are disturbed, lose identity registration at their homes affected by the disaster," said dr. Kadafi.

"And in the old position in refugee camps, perhaps exposure to parental violence to children is something that should be a concern," he added.

Doctor Kadafi also highlighted the provision of breast milk and formulation for children who were victims of the disaster. In the breastfeeding process, the government must provide certainty, especially regarding places that are comfortable and guaranteed for their privacy. He encourages breastfeeding mothers to continue to provide breast milk to their children. The reason is, breastfeeding will be more practical and sterile than formula milk.

"Providing formulas often in conditions with unclean water increases the risk of diarrhea, malnutrition in infants and infant mortality," said dr. Kadafi.

In the midst of conditions that have not fully recovered, IDAI also urges local governments to form emergency immunization posts in disaster-affected areas. This is done to prevent a spike in disease that can be prevented by vaccination, especiallyembiracy.

Moreover, the achievement rate of complete immunization (IDL) in West Sumatra in January 2025 was 0.9 percent, far from the national target of 8.3 percent. In Aceh it is not much different. In 2023, only 20.8 percent of children have received complete basic immunizations, far below the national average of 95.3 percent.

For this reason, the IDAI team will immunize when they find children who have not fully received immunizations.

"If we find a child who has not been fully immunized and we prepare a post to complete it, because other cases to this day there are also complications into pneumonia," concluded the Head of IDAI West Sumatra, dr. Asrawati.