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Community Development and the Innovation of Traditional Herbal-Based Medicine

Health problems are one of the most crucial problems for communities in mining operational areas. Data from the Nuha District Public Health Center revealed 10 prevalent diseases affecting the community over the past 3 years, with a total of 12,643 to 17,586 cases. Influenza emerges as the most common ailment, accounting for 7,737 cases (17.5%). Unfortunately, the management of this disease heavily relies on healthcare facilities, both in health centers and hospitals. This is indicated by the data from BPS Luwu Timur in 2020, where 65.94% of health visits were to health centers and 13.55% to hospitals, highlighting the community's dependence on costly curative measures. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic accentuated the need for immune-boosting commodities like red ginger. To address these issues, a well-crafted program to offer viable solutions is needed. This program should focus on enhancing preventive measures, promoting the availability and accessibility of affordable healthcare alternatives, and leveraging the potential of natural resources like red ginger to boost immunity effectively.
Community Resource Health Efforts (UKBM) are part of the PT Vale Indonesia Tbk PPM program which was initiated from 2016 until now. The initiation of this program was based on the high number of visits to health facilities, the average type of disease complained of was a degenerative disease that could be prevented promotively and preventively, and the lack of optimal use of medicinal plants around the community. Participants are the general public from women's groups such as PKK, Women's Farmers Group (KWT), Dasawisma, other communities, managers of traditional health programs at Community Health Centers in the empowerment areas of PT Vale Indonesia Tbk (Puskesmas Nuha, Wasuponda, Wawondula, Timampu, Mahalona, Bantilang, Malili, Lampia). Participants are given basic herbal training, herbal medicine entrepreneurship, training in mixing, mixing, massage skills, advanced herbal and ToT in stages by medical herbal doctors and teams. Furthermore, in implementing the training and activity follow-up plans for each participant, assistance is provided.
Participants who have taken part in training to create a Medicinal Garden (TOGA), start from preparing planting needs, caring for planting, harvesting and processing it. As time goes by, participants' interest and talent emerges to become a traditional healer (Hatra) and herbal medicine entrepreneur. The participants formed a forum for herbal activists called HIPHO (Organic Herbal Activists Association) in 2019. The activities carried out by this association take the form of herbal development at the village, sub-district, district level, social service and herbal promotion. After that, there was an initiation in the form of building a centralized empirical medical health service called Rumah Sehat HIPHO. Managed by HIPHO members, HIPHO Healthy House has started operating since June 2022.
On the other hand, the manager of the Hatra Community Health Center program after participating in the ToT in 2019 provided guidance and disseminated knowledge about herbs to the Independent Care (Asman) group in the working area of the Community Health Center. Apart from that, they also initiate herbal medicine corners every month at every Puskesmas and Martabak berdasi (Let's embrace diabetes and hypertension sufferers) where the target group is mostly the elderly. Participants receive monthly health check services as well as other activities such as health education, the use of medicinal plants and acupressure massage to treat their illnesses, healthy exercise and an annual meeting. Currently the tie-dyed martabak group is divided into 2 classes and there are around 60 participants per class.
Impact to Wellbeing:
The program's impact is notable, as evidenced by the following achievements:
  1. The changing mindset of people is shifting from dependence on chemical medicines and switching to herbal medicines which are much friendlier to the environment, health, and finances.
  2. Certification of 38 individuals as experts in primary traditional healing herbs.
  3. Active engagement of 379 participants, fostering a strong sense of involvement and commitment.
  4. Notably, as confirmed by SLIA (Standardized Life Improvement Assessment), the program has had a significant positive impact on the Human Resources sector, leading to a substantial increase in asset value from 0.97 to an impressive 2.90.
Impact to Economic aspect of Sustainability:
  1. The UKBM Herbal innovation has a social economic impact, namely as many as 361 assisted people were able to utilize plants with medicinal properties to overcome health complaints for themselves, their families and the community as an ASMAN (Independent Care) effort as well as increasing group income with an average income in 2018 of Rp. 912,500, in 2019 it was IDR 1,574,000, in 2020 it was IDR 9,663,625, in 2021 it was IDR 10,085,875, and in 2022 until June it was IDR 7,507,531.
  2. Giving birth to new MSMEs, increasing employment opportunities and increasing group income.
Impact to Environmental aspect of Sustainability:
  1. The UKBM Herbal program also provided changes in product services, initially still using 1540.7 liters of chemical pesticides and 2000 kg of chemical fertilizers, through collaboration with the SRI Organic Rice group to using 148 liters of organic pesticides and 17.5 kg of organic fertilizers. Based on a Life Cycle Assessment study conducted to examine the planting of medicinal plants using an organic system, in general there was a reduction in the impact on the environment in the form of a reduction in global warming by 99.97%, a reduction in toxicity to humans by 99.97%, the impact of acid rain by 99.97%, 97%, and eutrophication of 99.89%. This is because all chemicals that have an impact on environmental damage can be eliminated and replaced with vegetable fertilizers and pesticides.
  2. In the last 3 years, after intervention by the program, the degree of soil acidity (Ph) which was previously at 5.8 (acid soil, which means the quality of the soil is not good for use as farming land) has changed to an average of 6-7 (which means the degree of soil acidity is neutral). Apart from that, calculations have also been carried out regarding how much gas emissions will be reduced by efforts to replace synthetic agricultural inputs with organic ones.
Impact to Governance aspect of Sustainability:
  1. The participants formed a forum for herbal activists called HIPHO (Organic Herbal Activists Association) in 2019.

Foto: Vale Indonesia

SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
3.8.1 Coverage of essential health services

SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
4.7.1: Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development (including health education) are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment.

SDG 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
10.2.1: Proportion of people living below 50 percent of median income, disaggregated by age, sex, and other dimensions.
Principle 9.1 Implement inclusive approaches with local communities to identify their development priorities and support activities that contribute to their lasting social and economic wellbeing in partnership with government, civil society and development agencies, as appropriate.
  • The UKBM Herbal program has an element of novelty, namely the first healthy home in Nuha District which has institutional synergy by forming local HIPHOs and empirical traditional health service centers (health homes) as a place to get service, knowledge/education and marketing of herbal and organic products.

  • The UKBM Herbal Program in 2022 received recognition from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources as the Most Innovative Community Development & Empowerment (PPM) program in the health sector in the Mineral & Coal Company sector.

Foto: Vale Indonesia