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Students of the Midwifery Undergraduate Study Program, Faculty of Medicine (FK), Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) won 1st place in the student category at the 2024 Health Policy Recommendation (Sibijaks) Award. This competition was organized by the Health Development Policy Agency (BKPK) of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) of the Republic of Indonesia.

The 2024 Sibijaks Awards is a health policy recommendation writing competition based on data from the 2023 Indonesian Health Survey (SKI). The recommendation is in the form of a policy brief that focuses on a specific policy issue and offers alternative solutions to problems that require immediate attention from policy makers.

Zahwa Fitrotul Maghfiroh, a 3rd semester student of the Undergraduate Midwifery study program, FK UNS, successfully beat 118 other participants and won 1st place in the student category in the competition.

This competition was held in three stages, the first stage was the abstract selection which was attended by 119 participants. From the first stage of selection, 19 participants were declared to have passed to the second stage, namely the policy brief stage. At this stage, only 7 participants were able to pass to the final stage, namely the presentation.

"The first and second stages of selection were held online, while the third stage, namely the presentation, was held offline at the Wyndham Casablanca Hotel in Jakarta on September 30-October 2, 2024," Zahwa said.

In this competition, Zahwa made a policy recommendation or policy brief entitled "Strengthening the Policy on Providing Iron Tablets in School Institutions to Reduce the Prevalence of Stunting".

"This title is based on the policy question I chose regarding the priority of interventions for preventing stunting. The contents of the policy brief contain problems regarding stunting, anemia in adolescent girls, and the implementation of the Iron Tablet (TTD) program in schools today," she explained.

The data contained in this policy brief is based on data from the 2023 Indonesian Health Survey (SKI). After the description of the problem, the contents of the policy brief contain recommendations submitted to be able to overcome the problems that have been explained previously.

During the competition, Zahwa received guidance from Nurul Jannatul Wahidah, S.ST., M.Kes as a lecturer in the Midwifery Study Program, FK UNS.

On October 18, 2024, Zahwa was again invited to attend the announcement and awarding of the winners which took place at the Siwabessy Auditorium, Prof. Sujudi Building, Ministry of Health.

Before the announcement, the top three finalists from each category were asked to present their policy briefs again in a panel.

"I also had the opportunity to give a short presentation on the policy brief that I submitted in the form of a poster to Mr. Budi Gunadi Sadikin as the Minister of Health of Indonesia," she said.

Zahwa hoped that the policy recommendations that the participants have presented can be implemented and are useful for improving health status in Indonesia.

According to the Indonesian Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, health issues are not exclusive to the Ministry of Health, but to everyone. Therefore, it is important for the Ministry of Health to involve all levels of society.

"So, we provide an opportunity to all stakeholders, not only the Ministry of Health, not only universities, but also the community, so that the community consciously cares about their health," he explained.

He added that the winner of the Sibijaks Award will be involved in the Ministry of Health leadership meeting. "The winner of 1st place is asked to present at the Ministry of Health leadership meeting involving ministers and echelon 1. The 1st to 3rd place winners will be included in meetings related to the topics they raise," he said.

 

Public Relation of FK UNS