17 October 2024 – The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia with support from UNICEF, Vitamin Angels, and Kirk Humanitarian officially launched multiple micronutrient supplementation (MMS), replacing iron-folic acid (IFA) to support healthy pregnancies as part of their national policy.
The MMS program, launched in 2024, will initially be implemented in 209 districts/cities across 15 selected provinces. These 15 provinces were selected based on the rates of low birth weight, pregnant women with chronic energy deficiency, stunting, high population density, and a large number of pregnant women. Four of these provinces (8 districts/cities) were also part of previous MMS implementation studies.
The MMS program has also received support from implementation research conducted by universities such as the University of Indonesia, Airlangga University, and Hasanuddin University. A total of 1.3 million bottles of MMS, each containing 180 tablets, have been prepared for distribution to pregnant women. The program’s outreach has been conducted in 209 districts/cities across the 15 target provinces from September 17-24, 2024. To support production independence, a Coaching Clinic was held on October 8-9, 2024, to strengthen local industry capacity in producing domestic products for government programs, commercial purposes, and exports, with support from Padjadjaran University and PHARCI.
“Diseases affecting pregnant women and children are nutritional diseases, meaning there’s a significant lack of nutrition. I read that out of 4.9 million pregnant women, 27 percent have anemia. That’s very high,” said Minister Budi at the launch of Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS) held at SMA Negeri 27 Bandung, West Java, on Thursday (October 17).
PC@https://sehatnegeriku.kemkes.go.id/baca/rilis-media/20241018/2246644/menkes-tekankan-pentingnya-ragam-mikronutrien-bagi-ibu-hamil/
