Monitoring continuity of maternal and child health services, Indonesia.

OBJECTIVE: To implement an online system to evaluate the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on maternal and child health and nutrition essential health services in Indonesia. METHODS: We developed an electronic monitoring and evaluation system to assist district health offices in making rapid assessments of the impact of COVID-19 on maternal and child health and nutrition programmes in their area and in developing policy and programme responses. This implementation research was conducted from September to December 2020 in 304 districts. The strategies consisted of technical assistance for district offices by 21 partner universities and development of an online dashboard for rapid situation analyses and reporting. We collected qualitative data on feasibility and adherence to the intervention, as well as quantitative data from routine health databases to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on maternal and child health and nutrition indicators. FINDINGS: In the majority of districts key maternal and child health and nutrition services were moderately or severely affected by the pandemic, particularly child growth monitoring and antenatal care services. Adherence to the protocol of the intervention varied across districts but the system is a feasible approach to be scaled up to other regions and health programmes. High uptake by the health ministry, district office and university partners provided the platform with collaborative efforts for health-systems strengthening. CONCLUSION: The electronic monitoring and evaluation system could be implemented and completed with several modifications to accommodate district offices and universities. There is a potential to scale up the intervention with better implementation planning and training.

Do parents need application-based learning media to learn baby massage? A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Growth and development delays can occur in childhood under five years. Early stimulation is very important to help babies grow according to their age which can be done with baby massage. Increasing the skills of parents in learning baby massage is a main focus because parents are the closest people to babies. This initial research was conducted to determine the learning media needed by parents in learning baby massage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A qualitative research with a phenomenological approach was used to explore the views of parents, providers/health workers, Information Technology (IT) experts, and media design experts. Focus group discussion (FGD) was used to obtain information from a number of samples taken by purposive sampling. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: A total of 11 people consisting of four parents with babies aged 0-12 months, two IT experts, one media design expert, and four midwives involved in FGD. There was an agreement that an android application-based baby massage media was needed to include a baby massage video feature that was made every step of baby massage, starting with baby massage of the feet, hands, stomach, chest, face, and back. The baby massage application will be equipped with a baby massage feature that conveys the benefits of baby massage, massage instructions, diaries, and contact midwives. CONCLUSION: Parents who have babies, midwives who are competent in the implementation of baby massage, IT experts, and media design experts agree to develop learning media for the baby massage based on android applications by developing six features and systems.

Metabolomic Assay, Computational Screening, and Pharmacological Evaluation of Caulerpa racemosa as an Anti-obesity With Anti-aging by Altering Lipid Profile and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-γ Coactivator 1-α Levels.

Obesity is associated with an accelerated aging process, which prevents healthy aging. Both obesity and aging were manifested in the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator α (PGC-1α) level. These studies fulfill the scientific gap in assembled pharmacological activity assay of Caulerpa racemosa done in a previous preclinical trial. Six major compounds from sea grape (C. racemosa) extract were evaluated using an in silico approach against human pancreatic lipase, a-glucosidase, and a-amylase to predict prospective anti-obesity candidates. The lipase inhibitory activity of the extract reached 90.30 ± 0.40%, 1.75% lower than orlistat. The a-amylase inhibitory assay of the extract was 84.07 ± 5.28%, while the inhibitory activity against a-glucosidase was 81.67 ± 1.54%; both were lower than acarbose. We observe the effect of C. racemosa extract as anti-obesity with anti-aging by evaluating the obesity parameters in the human body for a 4-week period. There was a significant decrease in blood glucose, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides (TG), waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, and body weight (p < 0.05); PGC-1α and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) increased significantly (p = 0.000), in Group B when compared with Group A. Our study revealed that sea grape extract is a potent anti-obesity with an anti-aging reagent that does not produce any significant adverse effects.

The intervention of maternal nutrition literacy has the potential to prevent childhood stunting: Randomized control trials.

BACKGROUND: Stunting is the impaired growth and development of children due to poor nutrition, repeated infection, and inadequate psychological stimulation. This research aims to examine the impact of maternal nutrition literacy (MNL) in increasing the height or score of a stunted child. DESIGN AND METHODS: This study is a randomized control trial, which uses a sample size of 85 participants, 43 interventions and 42 controls, an 80% stress test and a 95% confidence level. The intervention group of the MNL consists of families with children under the age of five, focused on the mother's ability to perform breastfeeding, hygiene activities, care, and intervention for 3 months. RESULT: The status of stunting was determined by the different distribution of stunting before and after the intervention in both the intervention and control groups. There was a decrease of about 9.3% of MNL in the intervention group, while in the control group it decreased by just 2.4% (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that MNL has an effect in preventing stunting, and it is recommended that preventive measures should focus more on normal children, while stunted children should be provided with breastfeeding as the core of MNL.

Deficient Nutrient Intake from Complementary Foods among Infants Aged 6-11 Months in Rural Areas of Yogyakarta.

Nutrition education message that is developed based on linear programming could help arrange complementary feeding recommendations (CFR) using locally available food to improve infants' nutrient adequacy. This study examined deficient nutrients to optimize complementary feeding for infants. Data were collected from the Health District Office of Yogyakarta province that consisted of 91 breastfed infants aged 6-11 mo old. Their dietary intake was assessed by quantitative 24-h recall and data were processed using the software Nutrisurvey, MS Excell, and Optifood. Meat, fish, eggs, fruit, legumes, nuts, and seeds were infrequently consumed. Intakes of Fe and Zn could not fully reach the Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNIs), while the vitamins C, B6, folate, B12, and A could achieve 100% of RNIs by using optimized food pattern. Local foods that could be used to help improve the nutrients, except for Fe and Zn. The CFR were as follow: continue breastfeeding frequently; feed quality protein source food such as 3 servings/wk of all type of eggs and liver, 5 servings/wk of locally available flesh of fish; provide 2 servings/wk of enriched/fortified baby porridge; offer plant protein foods (legumes, nuts or seeds) 2 servings/wk including 1 serving/wk of mung bean porridge. Locally available foods had potential to improve diet quality of infants aged 6-11 mo, providing that the consumption frequency is increased. Consumption of food sources for Fe and Zn needs to be improved in terms of both portion and frequency.