Indonesian Government’s Policies on

Adolescent reproductive health

Lea Sutrisna, Lius Hariman, Kasmanto, Krizia Callista.

Introduction

Background

Indonesia has a population of 237,556,363 in 2010; this makes her the

world’s fourth biggest country- population wise- after China, India, and the
USA respectively. According to The Indonesian Population census carried in
2010, adolescent made up a large percentage of her population i.e. 26%. The
National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) studies on adolescent
reproductive health define adolescents as young people aged 15 to 24.
Similar to their peers in other Asian countries, Indonesian adolescents are
also experiencing extremely rapid social, cultural and demographic changes.
Adolescents yearn to know how to deal with unwanted pregnancy, Sexually
Transmitted Diseases (STDs), sexual relationships and feelings. However,
“sex” is regarded as a taboo topic by the society. Therefore, people refrain
from discussing about it openly both in general public and in the family. Also,
studies done in Jakarta have found that many parents actually feel inadequate
to educate their children about sex issues. This is due to the fact that parents
themselves did not receive the much needed sexual education when they
were in school or by their parents.
Indonesian government has been striving with the difficult task of providing
a nation wide sexual and reproductive health education for adolescents due to
the sensitivity of the issue. Therefore, The National Family Planning
Coordinating Board (BKKBN) has adopted a more targeted approach i.e. a
family- centered sexual education method.

Despite the growing awareness of the importance of adolescent

reproductive health (ARH) in Indonesia, there is still a serious lack of clear
Government policy to tackle this problem. The nation is still not ready to
admit that it is crucial to make sexual education available and readily
accessible to the public. However, the government has been continuously
making the effort to work with international agencies and Non-Government
Organizations (NGOs) to bring awareness to the people.

The suggestion to give reproductive health information and services to

single young people is still controversial; the Government is trying to reach
consensus in this highly contentious area by working intensively with
international agencies and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs).
In addition to the sensitivity of the issues, the availability of data that can
be used to design efficient and effective programs for adolescents, especially
those unmarried, is not sufficient.
Another major hindrance in creating an efficient and effective program to
adolescent reproductive health information and counseling centre (Pusat
Informasi dan Konseling Kesehatan Reproduksi Remaja) is the insufficiency
and inaccuracy of the data that is needed.
New strategies are required to put information in the public domain, to be
able to reach the 42 million adolescents across Indonesia e.g. via the media.
The approach described in this paper would probably be beyond the staffing
and resource capacity of most districts in Indonesia. Nonetheless, it shows
that there was great enthusiasm across a variety of communities for efforts to
educate young people on protecting their reproductive health. (Hull TH, Hasmi
E, Widyantoro N. 2004 )

Objective

- to explain about Indonesian government policies on adolescent

reproductive health.

- To get a rough idea of the public understanding of sexual education .

- To know the limitation and suggest possible solutions of Indonesian

policies toward adolescent reproductive health.

Benefit

- This research can be used as a media to advocate the need of sexual

education and gain support from the general public.
 - as an evaluation for Indonesian government and its network in running
policies and strategies on adolescent reproductive health.

Method

The populations of this survey are 1200 medical students from year 2007,
2008, 2009 and 2010 in Maranatha Christian University. The participants were
selected using proportional random sampling with minimal sample formula: n
= N/(1 + N(d)2) with d=0,05. 300 participants were classified into different
levels, according to the year they were admitted in the University: 64 students
from class of 2007, 71 students from class of 2008, 79 students from class of
2009, and 86 students from class of 2010. The survey is done by using
questionnaire which asked about the participants’ information of government
policies on adolescent reproductive health.

Result and discussion

Evaluating the public knowledge and awareness to adolescent reproductive

health and the impact of policies made to overcome the difficult task of
providing sexual and reproductive health education to adolescents, we
conduct a survey towards 300 medical students in Maranatha Christian
University. The results are shown bellow.

A. The public knowledge and awareness towards adolescent reproductive

health

!
!

B. The public Information regarding the policies made by the Indonesian

Government

! !

C. The public response toward PIK-KRR

! !
!

! !

A. Adolescent reproductive health in Indonesia

Some major issues about the adolescent reproductive health in Indonesia

are influenced by lack of information about reproductive health, adolescent
sexual behavior transformation, poor health service, unfavorable law and the
assumption that sex education will encourage adolescent to be sexually
active. Besides that most of parents who are supposed to educate their
children about sexual intercourse and the consequences of it, simply do not
have neither sufficient information nor the ability to explain it.

Policies
In Indonesia, adolescent reproductive health is still at its initial stage. However
Indonesian government has made policies on adolescent reproduction health by the
National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) adolescent
reproductive health information and counseling centre (Pusat Informasi dan
Konseling Kesehatan Reproduksi Remaja).

Conclusion

Based on the survey result, We conclude that participants understand and

know the importance of adolescent reproductive health, but they do not know
where to get sufficient information on reproductive health matters.

Indonesian Government’s policies on adolescent reproductive health by

establishing Center of Information and counseling for adolescent reproductive
health (PIK-KRR) is not well recognized among participants. In contrast, the
participants’ pretension to have and be part of PIK-KRR is high.

Limitation

- The limited access toward adolescent reproductive health information

and services.

- The suggestion to give reproductive health information and services to

every single adolescent is still controversial.

- The implementation of adolescent reproductive health information and

counseling centre (Pusat Informasi dan Konseling Kesehatan
Reproduksi Remaja/PIK-KRR) has not been done effectively and
efficiently,due to lack of government’s control and coordination among
all sectors in this network
 - Many people in Indonesia, especially religious leaders believe that
providing such information and services to adolescent will encourage
them to become promiscuous.

Solution

- Increasing the quality of adolescent reproductive health information

and counseling centre (Pusat Informasi dan Konseling Kesehatan
Reproduksi Remaja/PIK-KRR).

- Sufficient adolescent reproductive health information and counseling

should be accessible to every adolescent.

- Medical students take part in their local adolescent reproductive health

information and counseling center

References

1. BKKBN. Panduan Pengelolaan Pusat Informasi dan Konseling

Remaja. Jakarta. 2009.

2. Iwu D.U.. Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health in Indonesia.

Canberra: Australian National University. 2003. Policy report.

3. Situmorang A. Adolescent Reproductive Health in Indonesia,

Jakarta-Indonesia: Johns Hopkins University-Center for
Communication Program, 2003.

4. Soeharsono S., Hari S., Laura W.. Evaluation of UNFPA

Indonesia’s 7th Country Programme (2006-2010). UNFPA
Indonesia. 2010.

5. Widyantoro N., Hasmi E., Hull T.H.. “Peer” Educator Initiatives for
Adolescent Reproductive Health Projects in Indonesia. Canberra:
Australian National University 2004.