Debby Imelda

Johanna Debora Imelda was born in Jakarta, Indonesia. Since 1993, she works as a  lecturer at Department of Social Welfare, Faculty of Social and Political Science, University of Indonesia. She took her first Master of Arts in Development Studies, specialization in Population and Development from Institute of Social Studies, the Hague, The Netherlands, 1998-1999.  then, continue her master study in Medical Anthropology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2002-2003. In 1994 – 2002 she worked for Gender and Development Studies Unit; in 2000 – 2002 worked as a Research Consultant for Child Trafficking and Child Labour Elimination Program for ILO-IPEC; in 2001 worked  as  a Education Specialist for PA GETGEM-UNDP and in 2001 - 2003  worked as a Monitoring and Evaluation and Positive Deviant Specialist for  Save the Children USA, Jakarta.

Her recent research project, in 2005-2006, was “Towards a continuum of care in Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission Programs (PMTCT): proposal for participatory action-research in Vietnam and Indonesia”, collaboration between Medical Committee Netherlands Vietnam as a lead party; Hanoi Medical University, Vietnam; Pelita Ilmu Foundation, Indonesia, Department of Social Welfare, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Indonesia, and Medical Anthropology Program, University of Amsterdam as lead technical support. It is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This project assess and compare the quality of care provided to mothers and children in routine child-centered PMTCT programs with that provided in more comprehensive programs that are committed to providing a continuum of care to both mothers and children. The comparisons will be made both within and between Vietnam and Indonesia. The aim is to identify key elements of PMTCT care that have a positive influence on the quality of life of women living with HIV-AIDS, and could be scaled-up to meet the needs of the emerging national PMTCT programs in different countries, regardless of local cultural effects.

Her individual PhD project, which is still in progress, is a part of PMTCT project mentioned above. It is about “The Power of Sisterhood: Exploring Women Social Capital to Prevent Mother to Child Transmission on HIV/AIDS”. This anthropological study compares two women´s organizations, which each contribute to the implementation of PMTCT program in Tebet, Jakarta, i.e. PKK (Pembinaan Kesejhateraan Keluarga) and TOP (Tim ODHA Perempuan). PKK is the government-supported women organization which is socially and politically structured from the very lowest level in community until the district level; and TOP is the women support group that helps seropositive mother to overcome their problems. PKK and TOP are presented in the papers as two different forms of social capital that play different roles on the complexity of the PMTCT program. The research is based on a participatory anthropological enquiry.