Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) has said it needs more innovations to involve more residents in family planning programs.

"We must innovate to introduce contraceptives methods, such as single-rod or double-rod implants, and convince residents that the contraceptives can be inserted after birth and will not hinder breastfeeding," BKKBN Head Hasto Wardoyo said in a written statement received in Jakarta on Friday.

He further said he is convinced that the 600 thousand midwives grouped into 200 thousand teams under the agency could reinvigorate counseling and other services for prospective mothers on the agency's Klik KB and Elsimil mobile applications.

Midwives can also attend online seminars about family planning on the mobile application and disseminate knowledge on the subject, he noted.

"BKKBN surely will be overwhelmed if we give direct services to residents. Hence, we are utilizing the Klik KB application to serve the public," Wardoyo said.

He urged prospective brides and grooms to use the Klik KB application for resolving any health issue they face, such as protein deficiency, before marriage.

The agency head also asked prospective mothers to consult experts using the Elsimil application, which was launched last year and specifically caters to prospective and pregnant mothers.

Related news: Family assistance team to help tackle child stunting: Bali's BKKBN

"We expect Klik KB and Elsimil applications to be more popular in 2022. We will consolidate the Klik KB application by adding more content and continue improving the technical aspects," Wardoyo said.

Meanwhile, head of the account management department of Klik KB application, Arlies M Nugraha, said that the application recorded 15,772 midwife users and 2,278 independent midwife service users by December 2021.

The application also recorded 12,712 midwives who had completed their post-test after attending webinars hosted on the application, he noted.

"We have recorded significant user growth as we continue hosting reproduction health seminars and webinars on stunting prevention on the application," Nugraha said.

Regarding social media performance, up to 10 thousand residents accessed information provided on the mobile applications along with 166 articles, 163 Instagram posts, and 233 Facebook posts of the BKKBN in 2021, he added.

The agency also hosted fundraising events to provide nutrition booster kits to families with children at a high risk of stunting, the department head said.

"For instance, we provided three thousand nutrition booster kits to pregnant mothers in Karawang, West Java," he added.

Related news: Indonesia's stunting prevalence rate reduced to 24.4 percent: BKKBN





Translator: Hreeloita DS, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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