Geography

Indonesia is the world’s 16^th largest country in terms of land area. It is the largest archipelago in the world and it consists of approximately 17,500 islands, located between Asia and Australia. There are five major islands: Sumatera, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Irian Jaya or Papua bordering with Papua New Guinea. Two remaining groups of islands are Maluku and Nusa Tenggara, running from Sulawesi to Papua in the north and from Bali to Timor in the south. Other islands are small and mostly uninhabited. More than 80% of Indonesia’s territory is covered with water; the land area is about 1,860,360 sq.km. 

Demography

With a population of 237.56 million people (based on population census estimation done by National Central Bureau of Statistics-BPS, 2010), Indonesia is the world’s fourth biggest country in terms of population. Around 60 percent of the population lives on Java Island, this is only seven per cent of the country’s total area. The national average density is 109 people per sq. km but there are huge differences between the islands. While the density of Java is 951 people per sq. km, Kalimantan has only 20 people per sq. km. Approximately 118 million people (52 per cent of the population) live in urban areas. 

Governance

Indonesia is administratively divided into provinces and districts. Between 2001 and 2006, the number of provinces expanded from 27 to 33.  Each province is subdivided into districts - the decentralized administrative unit, and municipalities. Altogether, in 2009, there were 465 districts and 95 municipalities in Indonesia. Additional administrative units were sub-districts and villages. In 2007, there were 6,093 sub-districts and 65,189 villages in Indonesia (31^st January 2008, Ministry of Home Affairs, Indonesia).

Decentralization was implemented in 2001 had tremendous impact on the national health system. Districts were given full discretion in prioritizing sectors for development. In many districts health problems did not get sufficient attention, or funding, as reflected by the near collapse of surveillance systems, one of the backbones of disease control.

Acknowledging this situation, renewed efforts have been made by the government to address implementation issues by revising the legislation governing decentralization in 2004. It is expected that the new laws and regulations will better address the problems of implementation of decentralization.

WHO in Indonesia

The WHO Country Office for Indonesia began its operation on 23 May 1950 and has facilitated the Ministry of Health since then with support from and in collaboration with other partners, including UN agencies, donor countries and organizations, and professional organizations. WHO Indonesia support to the Ministry of Health includes technical assistance, training, guidelines and support for international standards. With staff both international and national, WHO Indonesia also gives strong support during emergency situation in the country, such as the tsunami disaster an disease outbreaks.

The overall goals of the WHO in Indonesia continues to be to improve the health of the peoples of Indonesia by supporting health development and an effective response to urgent needs, advocating health promoting policies, raising awareness of neglected public health priorities, and providing technical leadership in collaboration with the government, donor partners and other actors in health.

Strategic Agenda: principal priorities