Indonesia consists of approximately 17,000 islands, located between Asia and Australia, and is prone to natural disasters, landslides, floods, and volcanic eruptions. The population, now estimated to be above 250 million, has been severely impacted by COVID-19.

The Ministry of Health’s 2015 – 2019 Strategic Plan had several key aims, including improvements to health outcomes for mothers and children, better disease control, ongoing expansion of the universal healthcare system that was introduced in 2014, and more access to medicines and vaccines.

Life expectancy has gradually risen, reaching 73 for females and 69 for males in 2018.

Health challenges

The major health problems affecting Indonesia according to the World Health Organization include:

• the complications that arise from high levels of smoking. 65 per cent of Indonesian men smoke daily.
• communicable diseases, especially tuberculosis, which affected an estimated 845,000 Indonesians in 2018, and malaria.
• large outbreaks of dengue haemorrhagic fever, which are regularly reported.
• 640,000 people living with HIV in 2018, according to UNAIDS.

On June 10 2020, Indonesia had recorded over 30,000 cases of COVID-19, and over 1,900 deaths.

Burnet’s work

While our work has been concentrated on HIV and sexual and reproductive health, we have demonstrated expertise and experience in working across a full range of public health issues. Priority areas of work in Indonesia are currently prevention, care, support and treatment of emerging and re-emerging diseases, including HIV and other diseases that are leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Indonesia; sexual and reproductive health and women’s and children’s health.

• Programs - supporting the design, development and implementation of quality public health programs by local partners, based on needs identified together with local stakeholders and communities.

• Education and Inquiry - Designing and delivering training, workshops and courses and providing mentoring to build local capacity to achieve program objectives. Together with government and academic institutions, conducting social studies and building evidence bases to inform innovative and effective public health programming.

• Learning - Participating in networks, forums, policy steering groups and working groups to share best practices and lessons learned, so as to build an enabling environment for continuous improvement in the sector.