Asia Pacific Journal of Pediatric and Child Health

Abstract Ref Number = APCP1268

Poster Presentation

MALNUTRITION DISASTER INVESTIGATION IN A REMOTE AREA OF PAPUA, 2018

Saputro DD,Pohan FZ,Kadafi KT,Fuady A Harapan Kita Women and Children Hospital Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit National Cardiovascular Center Harapan Kita Pediatric Intensive Care Division Medical Faculty of Brawijaya University Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia

Background : In early 2018 in Indonesia there has been a serious humanitarian crisis in the district of Asmat, Papua. The crisis that occurred was severe malnutrition and epidemic of measles disease. A national response team formed by IPS in collaboration with Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia was deployed to investigate and to solve the emergency. This study aims to describe the burden of malnutrition disaster and health services response in a remote location in Papua. Material : A cross sectional study during the IPS team response to crisis in Agats General Hospital and Agats therapeutic feeding center (TFC) was conducted. Complete anamnesis, examination, and laboratory investigation were done in establishing diagnosis of severe malnutrition. Children who had severe comorbid and need further hospital care were admitted to inpatient care in hospital. From all children admitted we included only patients who were diagnosed as severe malnutrition (marasmic) in the analysis. We also excluded incomplete patient data. Results : From 202 patients, we entered 82 (93%) severe malnutrition patients to data analysis. Female children constituted 51.2% (n=42), median age of all patients was 24 months old. A total of 68.3% (n=56) of mother of malnutrition children were in elementary school level education, while 25.6% (n=21) were uneducated. Occupational status indicated that 75.6% (n=62) of mothers were unemployed. Faltering growth had occurred in 98.8% (n=81) and developmental delay was present in 15.9% (n=13). Unvaccinated children rate was high that three dose of DTP vaccine was taken by 12.2% (n=10), measles vaccine was 64.6% (n=53), and BCG vaccine was 61% (n=50). Conclusions : Lack of educations remains an important underlying cause of malnutrition in Asmat. Multidisciplinary specific, targeted, and comprehensive interventions are needed to address the crisis.

Keywords: malnutrition children humanitarian crisis papua asmat