Day: September 23, 2021

Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo has asked all schools in the province to form a COVID-19 task force to ensure that students adhere to health protocols while attending face-to-face classes amid the pandemic.

“It is important for all schools to have COVID-19 task forces. They will supervise the implementation of health protocols in order to avoid violations,” he said in a press statement released on Thursday.

He made the remarks after visiting students conducting self-isolation at state junior high school SMPN 4 in Purbalingga District, Central Java. The students tested positive for COVID-19 during antigen tests.

In general, the students are in good health and asymptomatic, the governor said.

“Only a few of them have mild symptoms such as cough,” he said.

The governor praised the Purbalingga district administration for its quick response in handling the cases, which included providing an isolation center and suspending face-to-face classes.

He suggested that the district government routinely conduct random COVID-19 testing of students attending face-to-face classes.

“If any of them is found positive for COVID-19, face-to-face class can be temporarily suspended. Do tracing and stay alert for (coronavirus) spread from non-face-to-face learning activity in the educational sector,” he said.

Earlier, the Purbalingga District Health Office reported that 61 out of 90 students of SMPN 4 Purbalingga had tested positive for COVID-19 based on antigen test results, which prompted the local authorities to suspend face-to-face classes in the district.

Source: Antara News

The Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (KPPPA) has said it aims to finish building 142 women and child friendly villages, spread across 71 districts and cities in 33 provinces, by 2022.

At the Women and Child Friendly Villages Technical Coordination Meeting here on Thursday, Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, Bintang Puspayoga, said that once the model for these villages is finished, then it can be expanded and replicated in every village in every city and district.

She asserted that the development of women and child friendly villages should involve the participation of all people in villages, including women and children.

“By involving women and children, the expectation is that it would expose various issues that surround women and children,” she explained.

The involvement of women and children in the development of these villages is especially important since they are the parties who have been directly affected by the problems and hurdles that they have had to face thus far, she elaborated.

In addition, women and children know the correct solutions to close the existing unequal gaps, she added.

According to Puspayoga, the development of women and child friendly villages should be based on the principles of non-discrimination, democracy, mutual assistance, appreciation toward the viewpoints of women and children, best interests of women and children, as well as affirmative action.

“These principles are carried out with the involvement of all parties, primarily women and children,” she said.

Women and child friendly villages are villages that integrate gender and children’s rights perspectives in the management of the village’s governance, the development of the village, as well as the empowerment and mentorship of village residents, she added.

Source: Antara News

The Health Ministry is aiming to inoculate more than 20 percent of the total residents in each province against COVID-19 by the end of this month.

“President Joko Widodo has instructed that by the end of September everything (vaccination) should be above 20 percent,” acting director general of disease prevention and control at the Ministry of Health, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, said in Jakarta on Thursday.

Currently, only four provinces have reported a vaccination rate below 20 percent of the total regional population, he noted. Those provinces are Lampung, West Sumatra, North Maluku, and Papua, he informed.

“(The vaccination rate in) Lampung is already 18 percent, just a little bit more (is needed to meet the target),” he said.

Indonesia’s global ranking in terms of mass vaccinations has not shifted from sixth place. “For the first dose and the total dose that has been injected, we are still below Japan,” Rondonuwu said.

In Indonesia, the first vaccine dose has been administered to more than 38 percent of the population, or more than 80 million people, he informed.

This is why the vaccination rate in the country is set to reach 50 million doses every five weeks until early October 2021, he said.

“In the first week of September, we have reached 50 million doses. The second dose is more than 22 percent,” he remarked.

So far, daily vaccinations in Indonesia have touched 1.8 million doses, or close to the daily target of 2 million doses per day, Rondonuwu said.

“We have reached 1.9 million last week. Hopefully, today we can record another 2 million of administered doses,” he remarked.

The Health Ministry has continued to make efforts to ramp up daily vaccinations to 2 million doses, he added.

“If we look back, we can break through 2 million doses because it was usually stable at 3-4 million doses per day,” Rondonuwu said.

Source: Antara News

The Health Ministry has adopted four strategies to quickly achieve the daily vaccination target of 2.5 million doses in regions, acting director general of disease prevention and control at the ministry, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, has said.

The first strategy is involving the Indonesian Police, the National Defense Forces (TNI), the National Demography and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), and the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) to accelerate vaccinations, he told Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR) during a hearing on Thursday, which was streamed on Youtube.

The second strategy is mobilizing resources at technical management units (UPT), such as vertical hospitals and medical polytechnics at the Health Ministry, to provide health facility-based or mobile vaccination services to the public, he informed.

The third strategy is installing vaccination centers in cooperation with other partners, such as DPR members, the Financial Services Authority (OJK), banks, institutes of higher learning, religious organizations, including the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) and the Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI), and the private sector, he said.

“The last strategy is involving territory development officers of the Health Ministry to support and monitor DPR RI in conducting vaccinations in the field as well as to ensure that the vaccination reporting aligns with the data of each region,” he added.

Rondonuwu highlighted a number of obstacles to achieving the daily vaccination target of 2.5 million doses, including low vaccination coverage among the elderly.

“Many problems cause the lower vaccination of the elderly, including (lack of) family role to take the elderly to the vaccination booth and comorbid anxiety disorder. In fact, as we all know, the elderly are the most vulnerable group when they fall ill,” he said.

The vaccination acceleration strategies will also target several agglomeration areas, including Greater Malang, Greater Bandung, Greater Semarang, Greater Solo, Greater Surabaya, and Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi) so that the first-dose vaccination coverage of 70 percent can be achieved in October 2021, he informed.

The same strategies will also be applied to the three most populated provinces in Indonesia and therefore, hard work is needed to achieve the daily vaccination target of 2.5 million doses, Rondonuwu said.

“If the daily vaccination target is reached in West Java, East Java, and Central Java, then 60 percent of the national vaccination target will be achieved,” he added.

Source: Antara News