Showing papers by "Gadjah Mada University published in 1977"

Primary Care in the Village. An Approach to Village Self-Help Health Programmes:

Abstract: The health clinic run in Kalirandu Indonesia by Foster Parents Plan a private philanthropic welfare organization is described. In 1974 the Plan was serving 3000 families through 4 clinics providing general curative services pre- and postnatal services family planning dental care and referral to the local urban hospital where needed. Each clinic treated about 100 patients per day at a cost of $1 per client family per month. However few inocculations were given and few preventive health checks were requested. When the number of Plan families grew to 9500 while the population of the served communities grew to 400000 with no increase in clinic budget a different approach was tried. Instead of serving only the families helped direactly by the Plan a total community service was developed. Plan personnel began to encourage use of the government health clinics. A rural health insurance system was developed which entitles the families to preventive health services. Plan medical staff and the local health center trained volunteers from Kalirandu in the use of a few simple medicines. The volunteers were selected by the village headmen and generally have elementary school education and a position of responsibility. This health "kader" works without payment and has 10-15 families living near him for whom he is responsible. At the time of writing there were over 500 kaders trained. Inservice courses are conducted to keep them up-to-date. An acceptors club was formed to motivate use of family planning. Seeking a more active role in village life the acceptors club then took on child nutrition as a project weighing children and reminding mothers of inoculations. The self-help momentum is spreading to housing and better farming practices which is providing more vegetable gardens and better sources of Vitamin A. It is emphasized that this type of group responsibility cannot be imposed from outside. It is community leaders within that provide the motivation for self-help projects.