Jakarta – Tobacco companies must go all-out with campaigns against underage smoking, including removing tobacco product advertisements near schools, a children's protection group has urged.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Weak enforcement of tobacco regulations has hampered the country's efforts to prevent children from accessing cigarettes, amid growing concerns that some boys take up

Paulina Quintao – The Ministry of Health (MoH) in cooperation with its partners has set up a taskforce to help prevent diseases spread by animals, including rabies and influenza (H1N1 virus).

Paulina Quintao – Washing hands before eating is very important for the prevention of infectious and other diseases but most Timorese are still used to it.

Paulina Quintao – The National Parliament (NP) has created a resolution to compel relevant line ministries to implement the integrated national program for combating malnutrition in the country.

Paulina Quintao – Four containers full of medicines at the Medicine and Medical Equipment Autonomous Service (SAMES) warehouse were alleged to be expired and the government will have to destroy the

Paulina Quintao – Three to five people out of 40 people who donated blood each day are found to be Hepatitis B positive, based on new data made available from the National Blood Bank (BNS) of Timor

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – After years of a tug-of-war between the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) over the authority to issue certification for halal produc

Paulina Quintao – National MP Osorio Florindo is disappointed with the attitude of some health officials who provide substandard health services and threaten the patients at the Bazartete Health ce

Susan Schulman, Kambele, Indonesia – Martina Wanago was sick. In fact, she was sure she would die.

Jakarta – Indonesia should make greater effort to protect children in the country, even though it has made significant, life-saving progress on children's rights and welfare over the past decades,

Paulina Quintao – National MP's praise the better quality of private health services, facilities and equipment in comparison with pubic health services available to the community in Timor-Leste.

Paulina Quintao – National MP Leonel Marcal called on the Ministry of Health to ban private pharmacies from selling formalin to the community without a medical prescription.

Paulina Quintao – Timor-Leste has yet to introduce legislation to standardize food safety regulations for imports to the country.

Paulina Quintao – A newly launched integrated program is aiming to reduce malnutrition rates in the country, particularly in Aileu municipality.

Paulina Quintao – There are calls for the Health Ministry to change the medication procurement system and introduce a specific process to address the lack of medication stocks at health facilities.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Indonesia is the second-worst place in the Asia Pacific region for people suffering from mental illness, according to a recent report.

Moses Ompusunggu, Jakarta – The country is at risk of being unable to cater for the growing domestic demand for health care, as most of hospitals in the nation have yet to meet necessary service-qu

Isabel Ermelita – The Timor-Leste Health Ministry is continuing to promote the use of condoms to at-risk groups to prevent the transmission of HIV, but still recommends that the wider community pra

Paulina Quintao – Although the Education Ministry has formally included sexual health as a subject in the national curriculum, this has not yet been implemented as teachers still felt uncomfortable

Paulina Quintao – The Deputy President of the Timor-Leste Parliamentary Women's Group (GMPTL), Albina Marcal, said many women especially in rural areas were having multiple pregnancies close togeth

Paulina Quintao – Every year almost 10,000 out of one million people in Timor-Leste will suffer from hepatitis, according to estimates from the Health Ministry based on data from the National Blood

Moses Ompusunggu, Jakarta – The government's decision to raise cigarette duties will not deter tobacco consumption in the country, public health experts and activists say, as the new price will kee

Jakarta – In connection with World Contraception Day on Sept.

Paulina Quintao – Research conducted by the World Food Programme (WFP) in partnership with the Alola Foundation in 2015 showed that 1,904 children under six years old were suffering from wasting, a

Paulina Quintao – The Mobile mother's project has made significant progress in terms of the number of pregnant women accessing health facilities and receiving assistance from qualified midwives at

Paulina Quintao – The Mother's Support Group (GSI) program implemented by the Alola Foundation has been recognized by the Health Ministry for its efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality in T

Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat & Media Wahyudi Askar – New data shows the alarming spread of HIV and AIDS in Indonesia.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – In developing countries, it is a problem decades old but the rising antimicrobial resistance in Indonesia has rarely been raised in a public awareness campaign – even

Severianus Endi, Pontianak – The practice of breast-feeding exclusively is hindered by myths among lower and middle income people in West Kalimantan.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Almost three years after it was first implemented in January 2014, hailed by many at the time as a landmark in Indonesian history, the government's universal health-ca

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Hospitals are suspected of abusing the national health insurance (JKN) program to gain profits, including by encouraging pregnant women to deliver their babies via C-s

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Health Minister Nila Moeloek revealed on Wednesday that at least 1,500 children in Banten, Jakarta and West Java had been exposed to fake vaccines.

Jakarta – Burdened by a persistent deficit in the national health insurance, the government, earlier reluctant to try to stop the country's addiction to smoking, has announced a plan to raise cigar

Djemi Amnifu and Panca Nugraha, Kupang/Mataram – The spread of HIV in the nation's eastern provinces has prompted local administrations to raise awareness about the virus and roll out more HIV prog

Jakarta – When her first child was born at a private hospital in Malang, Nuansa Putri, a 34-year-old civil servant, immediately believed the pediatrician's statement that baby formula would make he

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – In the wake of a major drug distribution scandal that has left many parents fearful over their young children's immunity, the government is preparing a regulation that

Evi Mariani, Jakarta – Although breast-feeding is natural, many mothers would testify that it is not easy, especially in a world where commercial interests lurk at every corner, ready to derail mot

Jakarta – Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) chairman Tulus Abadi has called on the government to further investigate the fake-vaccine case, saying that a pharmaceutical industry cartel was beh

Paulina Quintao – The Health Ministry (MH) has launched a public awareness campaign since the President approved the new tobacco control law on June 2.

Jewel Topsfield and Karuni Rompies, Jakarta – It never occurred to Wulansari not to trust vaccines when she had her baby daughter inoculated against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio and H

Jakarta – The government denied allegations that it attempted to cover up fake vaccine cases, saying the health authority had shown its willingness to confront the issue in its handling of similar

Syamsul Huda M. Suhari, Gorontalo – Wijianto is skinny in build, but agile. He carries a backpack and a red and white flag.

Jakarta – Several hospitals allegedly involved in administering counterfeit vaccines are facing mounting pressure as the fall-out from the public health revelation continues.

Jakarta – Parents of children who were administered counterfeit vaccines at Harapan Bunda Hospital in East Jakarta said they had noticed irregularities when their children were immunized at the hos

Callistasia Anggun Wijaya, Jakarta – The East Jakarta Health Agency said on Friday that at least 197 children in East Jakarta had been given fake immunizations, following confirmation on the distri

Jakarta – The controversial tobacco bill has again been challenged for its bias toward the tobacco industry and farmers.

Paulina Quintao – The Regional Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) for Southeast Asia, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, said the three major achievements in Timor-Leste's health sector since

Paulina Quintao – Thirty types of medicine are currently out of stock at the Dili Municipality Health Center (MHC) warehouse.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Nurul Fitri Ramadhani and Rizal Harahap, Jakarta/Pekanbaru – The recent discovery of a nationwide counterfeit vaccine ring has revealed gross negligence and weak monitoring by t