JAPANESE DELEGATION VISITS GONDANGDIA COMMUNITY HEALTH POST

Jakarta, May 6 (ANTARA) - A Japanese delegation visited a maternal and child health cooperation project at Gondangdia, Central Jakarta, here on Wednesday.

The Japanese delegation consisted of former Japanese justice minister Chieko Nohno, and parliamentarians - Teruhiko Mashiko, Chiaki Takahashi, and Hiroyuki Nagahama.

"The visit is aimed at finding out the progress of cooperation project between Japan and Indonesia in maternal and child health monitoring system by using Mother and Child Book (KIA)," Chieko Nohno said.

The KIA health record books promoted by the Indonesian government in cooperation with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) since 2004 are used to monitor the health of mothers since pregnancy and children until five years old.

"With these health books, we hope to monitor the history of children's health as early as possible, in order to reduce mortality risks," Chandrawati, head of the Menteng community health center (Puskesmas) at Central Jakarta, said.

The Japanese Parliamentarians Federation for Population (JPFP) delegation also took a close look at the monitoring services of expecting mothers and the health facilities available at the health post.

The Gondangdia community health post only has one doctor.

"Japan currently also lacks of medical personnel," Chieko Nohno said.

Chieko Nohno on the occasion presented a "Koinobori" flag to Ratna Puspita Sari, the Gondangdia community health post head, as a souvenir.

"Koinobori" is a Japanese tradition of hoisting gold fish flags in Japanese families in May to represent a hope of seeing their sons to grow strongly, healthy, and tough. ***