Introduction
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES SPRING 2016
This study examines community perspectives towards 5 factors of environmental health as well as the role of the ume kbubu traditional hut in the context of maternal and neonatal health challenges . Indonesia has the highest maternal mortality rate in South East Asia . Approximately 228 women die for every 100,000 live births ( AIPMNH , 2016 ). In disadvantaged and peripheral provinces in Eastern Indonesia , the rates are more extreme ( AIPMNH , 2016 ). This is demonstrated through data from the Central Bureau of Statistics ( BPS NTT , 2013 , pp . 152-155 ). In the Eastern Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggara Timur ( NTT ), the death rate is 306 women per 100,000 live births ( BPS NTT , 2013 , pp . 152-155 ). Neonatal mortality in NTT is also extremely high , at 3100 deaths per 100,000 live births ( AIPMNH , 2016 ). Data from the NTT provincial Bureau of Statistics further highlights South Central Timor as the district with the highest number of infant deaths for 2012 with a total of 125 deaths ( BPS NTT , 2013 , pp . 152-155 ).
In 2012 , TTS ’ neonatal mortality reached 1.35 % ( BPS NTT , 2013 , pp . 152-155 ). Most of these deaths were attributed to malnourishment , asphyxiation and infection ( BPS NTT , 2013 , pp . 152-155 ). Notably , a concerning 16.13 % of the neonatal deaths in TTS : 15 deaths out of a total of 93 throughout 2012 were categorized as resulting from ‘ other ’ reasons ( BPS NTT , 2013 , pp . 152-155 ). This is a dilemma as it highlights a lack of detail in investigating the causes of neonatal death . Deaths placed within the category of ‘ other ’ may also may have greater likelihood of being easily preventable deaths . This investigation seeks to shed light on this previously unclear area relating to the underlying ‘ other ’ causes of maternal and neonatal mortality . In doing so , the study adopts an environmental health framework which is strengthened through a participatory research method . The role of traditional housing is also explored within the study . In particular , the function of the panggang process which involves mothers staying in the traditional ume kbubu huts for 40 days after child birth ( Kause , 2013 ). In the past , this has become a particularly controversial issue . The debated use of the ume kbubu has come to symbolize a wider clash between external government intervention for modernization and local traditional customs and belief systems .
The conceptual framework used within this paper relates to environmental health and protection . This concept provides a more concrete understanding of the real life applications of environmental health . Environmental health and protection is defined as :
the art and science of protecting against environmental factors that may adversely impact human health or the ecological balances essential to long-term human health and environmental quality . Such factors include , but are not limited to : air , food and water contaminants ; radiation ; toxic chemicals ; disease vectors ; safety hazards ; and habitat alterations . ( Gordon 2006 ).
Environmental health conditions in Indonesia have suffered over the past decades . This pattern has been analysed in ‘ Indonesia Betrayed : How Development Fails ’, Elizabeth Collins
75 | P a g e