Infant mortality is a sensitive indicator to measure the health condition of a population. Despite large declines in infant mortality rates in Indonesia, the people living in rural areas are the most affected. This study aims to analyze the causes of infant mortality in rural Indonesia and suggested strategies for its reduction. This study is an analytical cross-sectional design based on the 2017 Indonesian Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS) dataset for children. The information on infant deaths collected from those mothers who experienced infant deaths. Series of logistic regression models were used to select the significant factors affecting infant mortality in rural Indonesia. Infant mortality is associated with intermediate social determinants such as birth order, birth weight, and breastfeeding status. Socio-demographic factors such as the educational status of mothers, wealth quintile, the smoking habit of the mother, age of mother at first delivery, and sex of the baby are also related to infant mortality. The most crucial factors in rural Indonesia were the age of first-time mothers. As a strategy for addressing the issue of infant mortality in rural areas, the result of the study highlights the need for decreasing adolescent pregnancies among the youngest age groups. Pregnant mothers in the youngest age group should be supported by quality maternal health services to ensure their pregnancies in healthy condition. The focus of breastfeeding promotion programs should be encouraged, particularly on early initiation and duration of breastfeeding.

Background: The results of the 2020 population census in Indonesia showed that the population has reached 270.020.000 million. This number shows that the population in Indonesia during the last 10 years has increased by around 32,56 million people.  One of the BKKBN's efforts to reduce the birth rate in Indonesia is to urge people to marry at the ideal age, 21 years for women and 25 years for men.    Methods: This study used GPAS/ SKAP data for the period 2017, 2018, and 2019 using the module for women aged (15-49) and the sample used was all women aged 40-49. This analysis used secondary data from the 2017, 2018, and 2019 government performance and accountability surveys.  Results: The age at first marriage for women should be encouraged to be 25 years old, not 21 years old, which has always been echoed and socialized.  Age at first marriage is the most dominant factor in women aged (40-49) to have more than two children (2017 SOR: 4.17 95% CI [1.85-17.31], (2018 SOR: 57.14 99% [4.12-793.67]) (2019 SOR 21.22 99%  CI [2.28-197.45]), while only in 2019 the AFM variable after controlling for it remained significant in influencing having children more than 2 (AOR 27.64 99% [2.88-265.20]).   Conclusion: Women aged (40-49) who have a younger age at first marriage (10-24) have a longer reproductive age range, so they have relatively more children than women who married at the age of 25 and over.  After controlling for other factors, the characteristics of women who have a tendency to have more than two children. Therefore, it is necessary to design a health strategy that is more suitable to the needs, characteristics, and capacity of women to reduce the birth rate in Indonesia is to urge people to marry at the ideal age.

Universal health insurance is widely believed to be a key strategy for improving health services. However, few studies have examined whether it increases the use of modern contraceptives. The purpose of the present research is to determine whether the policy of incorporating family planning services into the national health insurance policy in Indonesia ( Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional [JKN], implemented in 2016) has led to an increase in the use of modern contraceptives. The data were obtained from the 2019 Government Performance and Accountability Survey (GPAS; Total = 46,220 married women aged 15–49 years). The findings show that women who are covered by the health insurance scheme for non-poor families (JKN non-PBI) are 19.12 times more likely to use modern contraceptives than women who are uninsured. Women who are covered by health insurance scheme for poor families (JKN PBI) are 17.04 times more likely to use modern contraceptives than those who are uninsured. These results are robust against predisposing, enabling and need factors associated with modern contraceptive uptake (i.e., education, family economic status, religion, knowledge of modern contraception, age at time of first marriage, perception of the ideal number of children, number of children born alive, and area of residence). The findings suggest that the government should expand health insurance benefits in order to increase the uptake of modern contraceptives, particularly among disadvantaged group within communities.

Background: Low birth weight (LBW) is a major public health problem in Indonesia, while LBW is a leading cause of neonatal mortality. Adequate antenatal care (ANC) utilization would help to prevent the incidence of LBW babies. This study aims to examine the association between ANC utilization and LBW children among women with high-risk birth criteria. High-risk birth criteria consisted of 4T which were too young (mother's age <20 years old), too old (mother's age >35 years old), too close (age gap between children <2 years), and too many (number of children >2 children).  Methods: This study utilized calendar data from the women’s module from the 2017 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS), with the unit analysis only the last birth of women of childbearing age (15–49), which numbered 16,627 women. From this number, analysis was done by separating the criteria for women with high-risk birth. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to assess the impact of ANC and socio-demographic factors on LBW among women with high-risk birth criteria.  Results: This study revealed that only among women with too many children criteria (>2 children), adequate ANC utilization was significantly associated with LBW of children, even after controlling for a range of socio-demographic factors (p < 0.05). In all four women criteria, preterm birth was more likely to have LBW than those infants who were born normally (above and equal to 2500 grams) (p < 0.001).  Conclusions: According to WHO, qualified ANC standards have not been fully implemented, including in the case of ANC visits of at least eight times, and it is hoped that ANC with health workers at health facilities can be increased. There is also a need for increased monitoring of pregnant women with a high risk of 4T to keep doing ANC visits to reduce LBW births.