Population Council | Asia

ASIA
Indonesia

The confluence of events in Indonesia over the past few years, including the economic and political crises and the reformasi (reform) movement, presents tremendous challenges as well as a unique opportunity for promoting the health and welfare of Indonesia's most vulnerable groups. The economic crisis that began in mid-1997 has led to shortages of resources at the government and community levels that are affecting both the health status of Indonesian people and health services and programs.

In Indonesia, the Population Council is addressing reproductive health and HIV and AIDS issues by providing technical assistance to local and national organizations.

Council staff members are studying ways to build the capacity of reproductive health programs in two districts. The aim is to improve the ability of the district/municipal governments to identify and resolve priority reproductive health problems. The second objective is to use the experiences and information gleaned during this initial effort to develop a program to build capacity in other regions.

The Population Council is also conducting research related to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV and AIDS. The goal is to help the government create HIV and AIDS prevention and care programs. To this end, technical assistance and training were provided to provincial-level institutions so that local groups could conduct behavioral surveillance surveys. Data generated will be used to improve programs on an ongoing basis. The Council is also helping to implement similar surveys in ten other provinces and assist program managers from these areas to use the data that have been collected.

In addition, Council staff members conducted a needs assessment to strengthen the local government's capacity to implement HIV and AIDS prevention programs in four provinces. Data were collected to assess the status of the epidemic; the available resources; and the potential constraints to implementing an information, education and communication program targeted at high-risk groups. Another project aims to investigate various practical considerations in the provision of STI services in two provinces.

Research on female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is also underway. Council staff members are exploring the prevalence of FGM/C, women’s and provider’s perspectives, and the implications for women’s health and sexual life. The data collected may also be used to develop interventions.

Reproductive health priority framework
To help the Ministry of Health make informed decisions regarding the relative priority of proposed technical and financial activities, the Population Council facilitated the development of a structured reproductive health framework, through which the impact and sustainability of these proposed activities can be assessed. This priority framework is now being used by donor agencies to identify gaps in maternal and neonatal health programs that require future support, and by the Ministry of Health to coordinate ongoing and future interventions in this area to ensure that priority areas are addressed.

Directory of reproductive health NGOs
Many Indonesian and international donor agencies are interested in allocating funds to Indonesian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working in the area of reproductive health. To date, however, there has been little effort to compile background information regarding such NGOs. The Population Council compiled a directory of Indonesian NGOs involved in the field of reproductive health, including contact information, geographic coverage, and focus of interest. It is designed to increase the participation of local NGOs in reproductive health activities, and to improve their access to funds and technical assistance that may be available from donor agencies and other international bodies. The NGO directory has been distributed to a wide variety of local and international NGOs and donor agencies interested in reproductive health.

Analysis of conflicting crisis-related research results
Recent studies have shown conflicting results regarding the impact of the economic crisis on the health status of Indonesian women and children. The Population Council conducted a review of the findings of existing surveys, comparing and contrasting various results, in order to explain the discrepancies and recommend methodologies to enhance future crisis-related monitoring and surveillance.

Five key findings resulted from this review: (1) important crisis-related outcomes may be hidden when data are aggregated; (2) it may be misleading to attribute identified changes to the economic crisis; (3) a key reason for differences in findings is differences in timing of data collection activities; (4) the comparability of data is limited by differences in methodologies; and (5) indicators of crisis impact are not always comparable or relevant.

The recommendations resulting from this review provide program planners and other decisionmakers with a framework through which crisis-related research findings can be critically assessed. They also highlight some of the considerations researchers should follow in their future crisis monitoring and surveillance efforts.

Media information dissemination project
The Population Council is developing a strong network of print journalists to disseminate critical health information, to contribute to public debate, and to provide input into the process of policy development. The project is providing accurate, current information on reproductive health issues and crisis-related research findings, news releases, and press briefing kits.

Media forum discussions focus on issues such as the impact of the economic crisis on women's and children's health; violence against women; and male involvement in reproductive health. The discussions will be led by selected experts and attended by key health journalists and editors. This will be an opportunity to raise the awareness of journalists and to increase their coverage of these issues in the national and regional Indonesian press. In addition to the information-sharing activities, a four-day training workshop will be conducted with national and regional journalists to produce a sensitized atmosphere in which reproductive health information can be more widely disseminated.

FRONTIERS projects

Impact of Client Communication Training on Client Participation and Contraceptive Continuation (completed 12/01)
Increasing Media Coverage of Critical Health Issues and Promoting Appropriate Health Behavior and Services (completed 10/00)
Analysis of Conflicting Crisis-related Research Results (completed 7/99)

Publications/Resources on Indonesia

See Also

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting

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This page updated
16 January 2007