During pregnancy, a person’s immune system will decline and, thus, susceptible to various diseases. One disease that is dangerous for pregnant women is an infection of TORCH (Toxoplasma, Others, Rubella, Citomegalovirus, Herpes Simplex Virus).
TORCH infection in pregnant women will have a different impact depending on the age of the fetus during contracting. Infection in the first 3 months will cause a miscarriage, while in the next months will cause the baby to be born with a disability.
“If a pregnant woman got TORCH infection, the spread of infection to the fetus would be difficult to prevent and the impact will be very bad. But unfortunately, not many people know about the dangers of contagion of TORCH infections during pregnancy, “said Afifah Khoiru Nisa, Student of Medicine UGM, Tuesday (17/5).
Realizing this condition, Nisa along with her three friends, Urfa Khairatun Hisan, Hanifah Rizki Nugraheni, and Danniswari Fathoya Argez initiate to train people that would spread information on matters concerning the torch to the community, particularly related to prevention of TORCH infections.
Urfa hopes TORCH infection prevention training program to be sustained. She hopes the first participants will teach knowledge that has been gained to community target groups with the expectation of the target group will teach the wider community, and so on.
“After taking the five stages of training, the participants are expected to socialize TORCH infections information. Thus, people will understand and be able to prevent the occurrence of TORCH infections in pregnant women, eventually child health will increase,” Dannis said.
Training is held in Rejosari, Srimartani Village, in five main stages, namely the dissemination of general information related to TORCH, socialization details to prevent TORCH, discussions with the community of Rumah Ramah Rubella, skills training, and the training of public speaking for final stage.
“We strongly support the implementation of these activities, because knowledge of the health and hygiene of society in Rejosari is still very limited, whereas the low level of hygiene is one of the factors increasing the risk of transmission of TORCH infection. Most people here do not know what TORCH infections is, the transmission, as well as the impact of these infections,” said Didik, Village Chief of Rejosari.