Alleviation of maternal anemia in Indramayu Regency, Indonesia : results from the MotherCare project

The project included: a community-based study of the nutritional status of pregnant women; an experimental iron-folate tablet distribution system, in which the project assured the supply of tablets to traditional birth attendants and health volunteers, who then served as distributors; an IEC campaign; creation of a pregnancy data collection instrument; and policy dialogue with the Ministry of Health on initiating additional Safe Motherhood activities. Project results show that the increased availability of iron folate tablets and a communications campaign to promote behavior change surrounding the use of these tablets can be effective in increasing both coverage and compliance in areas that do not already have an effective community-based program in place. The communications intervention was particularly effective in areas of low iron tablet use. Distribution through TBAs and other local health workers was clearly an improvement over previous models of distribution. It is suggested that the project provides a model which could be replicated by other safe motherhood activities, whether they deal specifically with maternal anemia or with other issues.