Minister Of Health Budi Gunadi: Preventing Early Maternal And Child Death

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin/Antara

JAKARTA - Indonesian Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said maternal and child deaths from cancer and infection are two major problems in the health sector in Indonesia that need to be prevented early.

"Maternal deaths from cancer have a high ranking and the highest cancers are breast and cervical. The highest child deaths are infections with diarrhea and pneumonia," said Budi Gunadi Sadikin when delivering a virtual press statement in commemoration of the Peak World Immunization Day 2022 which was followed by the Ministry of Health's YouTube. RI in Jakarta, reported by Antara, Friday, April 22.

Based on data from the Indonesia Health Profile in 2020, infectious diseases are a contributor to death in the group of children aged 29 days-11 months. As much as 14.5 percent due to pneumonia and 9.8 percent due to diarrhea.

Indonesia's Health Profile data in 2020 also shows a high prevalence of pneumonia in children under five, namely 3.55 per 100 children under five. That is, 34 out of 100 children under five, suffer from pneumonia.

GLOBOCAN 2020 data reports that breast cancer ranks as the top new cancer incidence in Indonesia with 65,858 new cases and 22,430 deaths. More than 80 percent of cases when patients are first diagnosed are found to be in an advanced or metastatic stage, where treatment is difficult.

The Ministry of Health reports that cervical cancer or cervical cancer is the second highest cause of death for women in Indonesia with 36,633 cases or 9.2 percent of the total cancer cases. One of the reasons for the high mortality from cancer is because early detection is still low with a screening coverage of 8.29 percent.

Budi said that currently the incidence and death of cervical cancer can be prevented in several ways, including immunization using the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) and other early detection.

Based on the recommendation from the National Immunization Expert Advisory Committee, said Budi, the government through the Ministry of Health has conducted a demonstration program on HPV immunization since 2016.

According to Budi, the HPV vaccine is more effective in reducing the prevalence of cervical cancer if it is given to participants who have not experienced a menstrual cycle.

"If you are menstruating, he (the HPV vaccine) is not effective in reducing the prevalence of cervical cancer. That's why we are pursuing giving it to all children in grades 5 and 6 of elementary school," said Budi Gunadi Sadikin

Budi said the provisions were contained in the rules for administering the HPV vaccine, which all relevant authorities had to carry out. But along with the development of technology, the scope of participation may be expanded to other age groups.

"Hopefully vaccination technology will continue to develop so that we can expand its coverage," he said.

It is the same with the COVID-19 vaccine, which was given for the first time in Indonesia, only targeting those aged 18 years and over. However, after the development of technology, the coverage was expanded to groups of people aged 18-12 years and ages 6-11 years.

Budi said that the HPV vaccine since 2021 has been included in the complete basic immunization category which is mandatory in Indonesia. "Indeed, there were 11 types of vaccination that were included in the complete basic immunization category," he said.

However, in Budi's first 15 months as Minister of Health, he saw that cheaper and more effective health interventions were carried out upstream, not downstream.

Just like COVID-19, if the intervention is carried out upstream through preventive and promotive efforts such as vaccination, wearing masks and social distancing, the costs will be much cheaper than interventions in hospitals, Budi added.

"If you are sick, you need (antiviral drug) Remdesivir, there are already tens of millions, Actemra hundreds of millions. If vaccination costs hundreds of thousands. In terms of effectiveness, it is much more effective if the intervention is upstream," he said.

Meanwhile, to anticipate pneumonia, Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) is provided, while for diarrhea, Rotavirus vaccine is available.

"These three vaccinations will be part of the complete basic immunization that is being given now and will be carried out in stages," he said.