U.S. and Non-U.S. Scholars

Fulbright New Century Scholars Program
Overview • Previous NCS Programs • NCS Scholar List • NCS Brochure • 2001-2002

Pratiwi Sudarmono

Associate Professor
University of Indonesia
Department of Microbiology
The Integrated Gender Roles in Various Communities Using Information Technology Towards Decreasing Maternal and Infant Mortality Rate in Indonesia
Indonesia

Pratiwi Sudarmono (Indonesia) is Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology of the Medical Faculty of the University of Indonesia, Jakarta, where she served as head of the department from 1994-2000. She started her career as a WHO grantee in 1984, to conduct research in molecular biology of Salmonella typhi which aimed to develop a faster and cheaper diagnostic tool and vaccine candidate. She has collaborated with the Infectious Disease Hospital in Jakarta and Primary Health Care stations throughout Indonesia on the development of health systems and health management in rural areas to combat tropical diseases through better
management of diseases, from promotion and prevention to early diagnostic and efficient therapeutics.

Dr. Sudarmono received her M.D. from the University of Indonesia in 1977 and her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Osaka, Japan , in 1984

Dr. Sudarmono served eleven years as Deputy Assistant Minister of State for Science and Technology, Republic of Indonesia, to work on science and technology policy, research and development in medicine and health. Currently, through the "Mother Friendly Movement" campaign in Indonesia, the results of her laboratory research in tropical diseases are being implemented in rural communities to reduce the Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate through the better management of infectious diseases in the population. Her research, which concentrated on the gender role in public health to reduce IMR and MMR in Indonesia, earned her the "Bintang Jasa Pratama," the Indonesian national medal for outstanding achievement in science and technology.

Dr. Sudarmono has received numerous grants for her research, including a World Bank Grant to continue her research in medical microbiology and tropical diseases. She has been a Visiting Scientist at the NASA Space Biology Lab in Houston, at the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research in Washington, and the Tsukuba Medical School in Japan.. She is the member of numerous national and international societies, including the Indonesian Society of Microbiology, which she has chaired from 1990-present. From 1985 to 1995, she was appointed Indonesian Astronaut to the NASA space shuttle mission.

Dr. Sudarmono's research has been published in several national and international journals, and her book in Indonesian on The Gender Role in Community Base Development in Indonesia has become a standard reference for several governments' projects related to women in health, the gender role in social development, family planning programs, national vaccination programs, etc.

· P.Sudarmono (2001) Biofilm formation and its impact on bacterial resistance to antibiotics in hospital environment in Indonesia. Ind. J.Med. (In press.)
· P.Sudarmono (2000) The gender role in Science and technology development in Indonesia. Bina Aksara Press. Jakarta.
· P.Sudarmono, I.Suhadi (1999) The management of typhoid fever and other Salmonellosis in Indonesia. Proceedings of 4th Asia Pacific Symposia on Typhoid fever and other Salmonellosis, Taiwan.

The Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in Indonesia is 373. It is lower than Bangladesh and India, which has 440, respectively. However, it's higher than other ASEAN Countries, especially to Singapore (6) and Malaysia (36). The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in Indonesia is 40, higher than other ASEAN countries except Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. The Mother Friendly Movement ('Gerakan Sayang Ibu = GSI) was a national campaign which is introduced as part of the Safe Motherhood programs in Indonesia. The GSI is becoming a national policy and brought into action to all villages in Indonesia. After the economic crisis in 1997, followed by health crisis and the social and political crisis in January 1998, the health and quality of life of women and children under five are the most hampered. To enhance women's and children welfare, - including prevention and promotion of health, and the reduction of health burden due to gender inequalities, poverty, traditional/local cultures and way of life, geographic condition, limited skill and knowledge of traditional birth attendants (TBA) and village midwives - a multidisciplinary approach and integrated gender roles in GSI campaign in collaboration with government and NGOs, along with women participation in "family welfare post/center" at grassroots level is needed.

Globalization has brought challenges in achieving better health for all The fast growing information technology has considered powerful for the dissemination of information and contributes to the effective network of safe motherhood efforts through multimedia, off-air and on-air communication. The Fulbright NCS program will be directed to develop a model of which the IT network can be implemented to improve preventive and promotive measures in community health development which will be focused in 2 different district in Indonesia: 1) West Nusa Tenggara (very high MMR and IMR, Moslem communities, very limited gender participation, specific cultural practices etc) and 2) its neighbor district East Nusa Tenggara (moderate MMR and IMR, Christian communities, large gender participation) Women , NGOs and health personnel and officials who work in many aspects related to the safe motherhood and children health and welfare programs - are considered potential to act as an important element of the model. The aim of the research is to develop specific health policy, designed for specific areas in Indonesia where public participation is necessary for an improvement of health and welfare, especially for women and children, which hopefully creates the bottom up initiatives, instead of the general policy of public health at present practiced by the government of Indonesia. The impact of globalization will certainly be included in model design.