Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Papua AIDS Commission (KPA) on Tuesday submitted a letter rejecting a controversial draft bylaw that would require people living with HIV/AIDS to be i

Sarah Boseley, health editor – People with HIV in Papua, Indonesia, who are deemed to be "sexually aggressive" may be microchipped to enable the authorities to identify, track and punis

Havana – East Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta, today highlighted Cuba's medical collaboration with his country, which has nearly one million inhabitants.

Angel Flassy, Papua – Amid protests from Papuans and NGOs, the Papua provincial legislative council is set to pass a bylaw on HIV/AIDS that includes a controversial article requiring ce

Luh De Suriyani, Denpasar – Men's active participation in the government's family planning program is minuscule, with just 0.1 percent of the province's 625,000 fertile couples using co

Triwik Kurniasari, Jakarta – The city administration and a number of anti-smoking NGOs plan to conduct raids across the city targeting smokers caught ignoring the bylaw on smoking in re

Jakarta – The HIV/AIDS infection rate is exploding in Indonesian prisons because intravenous drug users are being kept in the same overcrowded cells as other inmates, officials said Thu

An international health NGO says the death toll from a cholera epidemic in Indonesia's Papua has reached an estimated 200.

Urgent Appeal General: AHRC-UAG-012-2008

Dear friends,

Havana – A farewell ceremony for a group of six Cuban healthcare service providers in East Timor was held at that country's Health Ministry (MINSA).

Jakarta Post – Wilson just had his first birthday last weekend and his mother was busy not only preparing for his party but also entertaining formula milk marketers.

Jakarta – Poor hygiene and sanitation cost Indonesia's economy more than US$6 billion per year, supporting the need for greater investment in water and sanitation infrastructure, a Worl

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Men's resistance to condom use will transform moderate-risk Indonesia into a country with the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the region within a few years, the Commis

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – East Nusa Tenggara provincial administration has accused the central government of neglecting a help plea to address chronic malnutrition in the area.

Jon Afrizal and Agus Maryono, Jambi, Purwokerto – The number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Jambi and Central Java provinces, especially in Banyumas regency, is rising at an alarming

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Deaths from cholera increased to 173 in Papua as of Saturday, with lawmakers and civil society groups accusing the local administration and central government of

Dianing Sari, Jakarta – About 1.5 percent of 228 million Indonesians or 3.4 million are suffering from eye problems that leads to blindness.

Jakarta – At least 172 villagers have died in a cholera outbreak that has triggered unrest in Indonesia's remote eastern Papua province, church authorities said Tuesday.

A diarrhoea outbreak in a remote area of Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua has killed at least 156 people and sickened hundreds of others, media reports say.

Nethy Darma Somba and Angela Flassy, Jayapura – At least 16 have died of HIV/AIDS in Puncak Jaya regency, in Papua, and millions more are at risk in the country with the world's highest

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – About 3.5 million babies will be born in Indonesia every year if the current birthrate continues.

Arwa Damon, Remote West Timor – Maria's labored breath echoes within the walls of her family's mud hut. Her tiny, bony hands open and close in slow claw-like motions.

Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – UNICEF has renewed calls for donors to refrain from sending formula milk as humanitarian assistance to victims of disasters, saying it could cause even more

Prodita Sabarini – A decline in the breast-feeding rate in Indonesia is one of the primary causes of the rise in childhood malnutrition in the country, a UN official says.

Erwida Maulia, Depok, West Java – Speakers at a seminar in Depok on Saturday said drug laws needed to place more of an emphasis on rehabilitation for users and stop treating addicts the

Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – The death toll from severe malnutrition cases in East Nusa Tenggara province rose from 23 to 25 as of Thursday, an official from the local health office sai

The Hon Kevin Rudd MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
Canberra
ACT 2600

23 June 2008

Re Health Concerns in West Papua

Dear Prime Minister,

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – Malnutrition has claimed 20 lives in West Nusa Tengarra over the past six months, according to a local health office.

Jayapura, Papua – In a bid to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, the National AIDS Commission (KPAD) in Merauke has marked red light districts and entertainment centers employing workers infe

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – An activist and a councillor have lambasted the East Nusa Tenggara government, saying it did nothing to address widespread malnutrition that has contributed to

Jakarta – Public health care in Indonesia has improved, but it still needs more efficient regulations, greater private sector involvement and better financing, a World Bank report says.

Aubrey Belford, Tibar, East Timor – East Timor, which gained formal independence in 2002 after a long history of occupation under Portugal and Indonesia, is Asia's youngest country in m

Robin McDowell, Jakarta – A 15-year-old girl died of bird flu last month, becoming Indonesia's 109th victim, but the government decided to keep the news quiet.

Arnaldo Musa – East Timorese Foreign Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa met with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque in Havana where he thanked the country for its continuous suppo

Jakarta – Most drug cases remain unsolved because police officers cannot resist the temptation to use the evidence, an expert says.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – With shortages of imported medicines and a general lack of knowledge among the affected, only about 10 percent of the 200,000 Indonesians living with HIV/AIDS r

Dili – Authorities from Timor Leste have expressed gratitude for collaboration in several fronts and the humanitarian labour of Cuban physicians and teachers in this small south Asian c

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Three people with HIV/AIDS were recently admitted to Abdul Moeloek General Hospital in Bandarlampung, Lampung province, bringing to 94 the total number

Jayapura – A majority of Papuan people still consume rain and river water since 70 percent of villages in the provinces have no clean water facilities.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Female residents of Kampung Pulo, a flood-prone neighborhood in Kampung Melayu subdistrict, East Jakarta, banded together Thursday to determine the ca

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – Ratna, a resident of a slum in Cilincing, North Jakarta, has struggled for years to cope with chronic water shortages.

Andrea Tejokusumo, Jakarta – There is no better moment to address the importance of sanitation than this year's World Water Day, which takes on the issue in conjunction with the UN's 20

The coordinator of the Luta Hamutuk non-governmental organization in East Timor, Mericio Akara, said on Thursday that Cuba is an example for the Third World in the field of cooperation.

The bird flu situation is "critical" in Indonesia, where the virus could mutate and cause a human pandemic, the UN food agency warned yesterday.

Erwinda Maulia, Jakarta – Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari has accused the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States of conspiracy in the collection of bird flu virus sam

Katia Siberia Garcia, Havana – Cuban doctors who fulfilled an internationalist mission in Timor-Leste arrived in Cuba on Thursday night, March 13, after two years in that South East Asi

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Widespread and severe malnutrition has been declared across Rote Island, off West Timor, following the death of five children this month.

Jakarta – A number of regional governments have cut their HIV/AIDS budget allocation, despite a national commitment to raise more funds to fight the virus.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The number of lepers has nearly doubled and the disease has spread to almost every regency and city in West Java over the past year, due to poor sanitation,

Dili – In a ceremony presided over by the interim president of the Republic of Timor-Leste, Fernando Lasama de Araujo, and Deputy Prime Minister Jose L.