Day: March 21, 2022

Riau Deputy Governor, Edy Natar Nasution, urged the province’s teenagers to get married at an ideal age, specifically 21 years for women and 25 years of age for men, and to avoid early marriage.

“This is because under 21, women, especially their reproductive organs, are still developing, so they are not ready to get pregnant. Hence, teenagers must avoid early marriage,” Nasution remarked here on Monday.

The deputy governor noted that early marriage was a matter of concern since it can harm the health of mothers and children, thereby resulting in a high likelihood for a child being born stunted.

He explained that stunting is a condition of failure to thrive in children under five years of age due to chronic malnutrition in the first one thousand days of life.

“Based on a study by the World Health Organization (WHO), one of the causes of the stunting problem in Indonesia is early marriage, especially since many people consider that early marriage is normal,” he noted.

He emphasized that pregnant women should implement a healthy lifestyle in order to prevent infection during pregnancy. Infections from certain types of bacteria, viruses, or parasites that pregnant women experience can increase the risk of more serious health problems, such as delayed fetal growth or congenital disabilities.

To this end, the deputy governor advised women to take iron supplements to prevent anemia.

He also appealed to teenagers to undergo health screening at least three months before marriage.

Recently, the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) and the Ministry of Religious Affairs inaugurated a three-month premarital health screening program for couples contemplating marriage to eradicate stunting.

According to the BKKBN head Hasto Wardoyo, through the premarital health screening program, prospective mothers will undergo health screening that will involve blood checks and measurement of the upper arm circumference, height, and weight.

The screening will also check whether a prospective mother suffers from anemia, chronic energy deficiency, or malnutrition.

In addition, the program will provide counseling to the father-to-be to change bad habits, such as smoking or addiction to drugs, to maintain the sperm quality, he stated.

Source: Antara News

The government is preparing a single narrative for the new economic order post the COVID-19 pandemic, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno said during a weekly press briefing here on Monday.

This preparation has been accompanied by expanding the visa-on-arrival (VoA) facility for foreign travelers from 42 countries compared to 23 previously, he pointed out.

“In the next few months, we will carry out this life normalization, (and we) need all support. If the upcoming Eid al-Fitr and homecoming goes smoothly, then the process will be continued, and we will further expand economic activities in the community,” Uno explained.

In addition to the expansion of VoA, the Indonesian government has decided to broaden the no-quarantine policy throughout Indonesia, with only PCR tests required for entry into the country.

This policy has been applied because the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has been considered to be increasingly under control, owing to public compliance with strict and health protocols in a disciplined manner, Uno said.

Moreover, the smooth trials of the no-quarantine policy in Bali, Batam, and Bintan have also served as a reference for the government for imposing the policy throughout Indonesia, he explained.

In Bali, Batam, and Bintan, the positivity rates are noticeably low and the reproduction rates have been decreasing, according to Uno.

He also said that during Ramadan, people will be able to worship with fewer restrictions that will be adjusted to the density or crowd level in each worship house, while still applying the health protocols and getting the complete dose and booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“This is part of the new economic order that the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy will actively start arranging. Some of them are tourism and creative economic activities,” Uno remarked.

In the transition process, it will be necessary to prepare to face various new variants of COVID-19 that continue to emerge, he said.

“The preparations toward the post-pandemic transition are expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2022,” he added.

Source: Antara News

The People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) has pressed for conducting evaluation and immediately offering new job openings to prevent the rampant practice of sending illegal Indonesian migrant workers to neighboring countries.

“I am very concerned about the rampant practice of sending illegal Indonesian migrant workers to neighboring countries. (Everyone) must pay serious attention to this practice and immediately address the root cause of the problem,” MPR’s Deputy Chairperson Lestari Moerdijat informed through a written statement here on Monday.

An Indonesian fishing boat that sank on Sunday March, 20, in the Malaysian waters was suspected to be carrying migrant workers. As a result of the accident, two people lost their lives, 26 people went missing, and 61 people were rescued.

In January 2022, six would-be Indonesian migrant workers drowned off the coast of Malaysia after their boat capsized. The incident was allegedly related to an attempt to enter Malaysia illegally.

A month earlier, 21 Indonesian migrant workers died after their boat capsized.

Moerdijat noted that these accidents — in which ships brought Indonesian migrant workers illegally to neighboring countries– must receive serious attention from stakeholders, so that the main problems that trigger the accidents could be resolved immediately.

She assessed that several factors had triggered the migrant workers’ ship accident. She suspected that finding work in the country had become increasingly difficult coupled with economic pressure due to the pandemic that were some of the factors that had driven the series of events to occur.

Stakeholders must immediately evaluate several poverty alleviation and community empowerment programs in order to immediately tap into the regional economic potentials.

Pushing for the opening of various business potentials in every part in Indonesia must be done immediately to halt the rampant practices in question, she stated.

“Because in truth, our Constitution has mandated the managers of this country to protect every Indonesian citizen and create an independent, united, sovereign, just and prosperous Indonesian state and nation,” she concluded.

Source: Antara News