One of the main agendas of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to reduce maternal mortality and under-five mortality. Indonesia’s maternal mortality rate (MMR) in 2017 was 177 per 100,000 live births and infant mortality rate (IMR) was 20 per 1,000 live births (World Bank 2017). This figure is still far from the SDGs target where MMR is 70 per 100,000 live births and IMR is 12 per 1,000 live births by 2030.

Seeing the challenges that exist, doctorSHARE has made maternal and child health a priority program in recent years both in the Kei – Southeast Maluka program area as a maternal and child health center, as well as in a number of areas reached by doctorSHARE’s floating hospitals with the Antenatal Care (ANC) approach. “ANC is absolutely necessary because routine ANC can reduce the number of deaths in mothers and children,” said Tutuk Utomo Nuradhy as doctorSHARE’s Vice Managing Director.

ANC itself is a pregnancy examination program that aims to improve the physical and mental health of pregnant women optimally, so that they are able to face the period of childbirth, postpartum, face the preparation of exclusive breastfeeding, and the return of reproductive health naturally. Continuing previous good practices, the ANC program with the support of PT JAPFA and Fleischhacker in Kei now includes classes for pregnant women, training for health workers and cadres, and nutritious food classes. In collaboration with the local Puskesmas, this time doctorSHARE took a more innovative and creative approach through a cooking competition involving 33 posyandu groups (each group consists of 6 people) in three Puskesmas work areas (Elat, Watsin, Larat) on Thursday 3 November 2022.

The dishes contested were food for pregnant women, nursing mothers and toddlers with the right portion for one meal. A total of 198 participants involved seemed enthusiastic and tried hard to come out as winners. “This activity is very exciting. Posyandu mothers rarely gather this much for local food cooking activities,” said Sara, head of the Ler Ohoilim Posyandu cadre. “We are all happy and learned many things through today’s cooking competition,” added Sarah.

The local food-based balanced nutrition cooking competition was made possible through doctorSHARE’s collaboration with a number of health centers in Kei Besar as well as the support of the local government through a number of related agencies from the provincial, district, sub-district, to ohoi levels, and the community as well as the support of the DPRD and elements of the TNI – Polri. “Creative initiatives like this should be appreciated because they provide real education to improve family nutrition and also contribute to community empowerment,” said Dra. Maryam Matdoan, M. Si as Head of the Southeast Maluku Regency BPMPD Office. Meanwhile, the winners of the competition were selected through a rigorous judging process involving doctorSHARE representatives, Maluku Province Nutritionist representatives, PKK representatives, Health Office representatives, BPMPD Office representatives, Local Government representatives, Southeast Maluku DPRD representatives, and business representatives in Kei Besar (chefs).

In addition to promising lucrative prizes for the participants, this activity has a number of important targets. Starting from training the independence of pregnant women, nursing mothers, and mothers with toddlers in serving balanced nutritious food with the right portion, training health cadres related to balanced nutritious food with the right portion, training creativity in managing food made from local food, inspiring the surrounding community, and as a promotional event for the doctorSHARE Kei program to the community and stakeholders both at the Southeast Maluku Regency level, and Maluku Province.