Michael Bachelard and Jill Stark – Many people have seen the smoking baby on YouTube – the chubby, cheerful two-year-old from Sumatra with a pack-a-day habit.

Elly Burhaini Faizal – Indonesia is one of the top 15 countries in the world in terms of progress in dealing with child malnutrition, a report says.

Jakarta – A coalition of civil society groups under the collective banner MATA has called on the government to withdraw its support for the World Tobacco Asia (WTA) conference, slated f

A worrying decline in exclusive breast-feeding by new mothers underlines the need for the government to move quickly and enact a regulation that is meant to encourage and make breast-fe

The Tourism Ministry has announced plans to award Indonesian parks for their clean public toilets, which officials hope will make Indonesia a more attractive tourist destination, and wi

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – The growing numbers of HIV infections and the maternal mortality rate pose serious threats to the nation's efforts to achieve the Millennium Development

Novia D. Rulistia, Jakarta – More married women in the city were infected with HIV and AIDS in 2011, Jakarta AIDS Prevention Commission (KPAP) says.

Dessy Sagita & Ismira Lutfia – Activists have raised alarm over Indonesia's anti-abortion laws, saying that criminalized abortion encourages women to turn to illegal practices that

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – A cabinet minister said on Monday that the government had factored in the views of all stakeholders, especially tobacco farmers, in its proposed tobacco impac

Pekanbaru – Indonesia has the worst drinking water in Southeast Asia, a freshwater researcher at the Indonesian Research Institute (LIPI) said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – After previously insisting that vasectomies were banned under Islamic law, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has softened its stance on the matter, saying vasectomies are all

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – Despite its stated commitment to supporting the UN Population Fund's (UNFPA) reproductive health programs, the government is making little effort to prom

The spread of HIV infections in Papua is alarming, with those in remote regions being deprived of transportation facilities reported to have contracted the disease.

Jakarta – Woman politicians from the United Development Party (PPP) strongly opposed the plan by the Health Ministry to distribute free condoms to people with high risk of contracting s

Elly Burhaini Faizal and Arya Dipa, Jakarta – The debate over the distribution of free condoms as a preventative measure in the fight against HIV/AIDS has become political, with the new

In East Timor, the politics of language can be a complex and fiercely debated topic.

Camelia Pasandaran – Indonesia's new Health Minister has been summoned to appear before the House of Representatives on Monday to discuss the ministry's controversial youth condom campa

Margareth S.

Antara & Dessy Sagita – Newly-appointed Health Minister Nafsiah Mboy posted a video to YouTube on Tuesday explaining the ministry's plan to promote condom use among teenagers and ot

Indonesia has been able to cut by more than half the annual mortality among women and children in just over two decades, but too many of them continue to die, Unicef said on Thursday.

Jakarta – The head of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) says the council has always held that vasectomies and tubectomies were not allowed under Islamic law.

Dessy Sagita – Indonesia's weak regulations on cigarette sales and advertising make it the last remaining haven for the international tobacco industry, says a consumer protection activi

Indonesia is getting older. Life expectancy has climbed to nearly 70 years for Indonesian women and 65 for men, and continues to rise.

Indonesia's Child Protection Commission (KPAI) urged the government to limit condom sales to approved stores, a move that would effectively pull the contraception out of convenience sto

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – As the number of HIV/AIDS infections contracted through sexual contact grow higher in the country, the efforts to combat the condition should primarily f

Made Arya Kencana, Denpasar – The country's leading children's rights group is threatening to sue the government unless it issues a regulation banning all tobacco advertising, which it

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – Indonesia's family planning program remains stagnant due to poor access to reproductive and sexual health services, which could further affect the countr

Jakarta – Deputy Health Minister Ali Ghufron Mukti warned on Tuesday that maternal and infant deaths in Indonesia remained high despite improvements over the last few years.

Dessy Sagita – Child health in Indonesia remains a major challenge largely because of malnutrition, although maternal health is improving, a key international report says.

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – With three years remaining ahead of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) deadline in 2015, the number of infant and maternal deaths in 20 provinces th

Dessy Sagita – Blackened lungs. Gangrenous feet. Yellowed teeth. Indonesia's cigarette warning labels are about to get a lot nastier.

Margareth S.

Antara & Anita Rachman – The Constitutional Court on Tuesday annulled an article in the 2009 Health Law which has stopped building owners across the country from providing a special

Tunggadewa Mattangkilang, Balikpapan, East Kalimantan – Family planning authorities are urging the country's highest Islamic authority to declare vasectomies permissible under religious

Dessy Sagita – The National Commission for Child Protection will file a class-action lawsuit against the cigarette industry and the government for failing to protect children from smoki

Anita Rachman – A tobacco control bill was first named to the House of Representatives' list of priority legislation for deliberation and passage in 2009 – and there it smoldered until

Michael Victor Sianipar – Indonesia may be progressing slowly and steadily toward fulfilling its targets under the Millennium Development Goals, but the issue of maternal health continu

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – Poor women in urban areas are reluctant to accept contraceptives offered to them for free, hampering efforts to slow the country's population growth.

In Indonesia, a diagnosis of leprosy can cut patients off from family, employment, public services, even marriage and places of worship, health officials say.

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – Low investment in infrastructure development has left many Indonesians with no access to potable water and basic sanitation, and the problem is particula

Dessy Sagita – A survey conducted by the Health Department suggests that among high-risk populations, women are more likely to use condoms during sex than men, which has made them signi

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – Indonesia could fail its Millenium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing maternal mortality by 75 percent by 2015, due to the slow progress in improving the

Vento Saudale – Finding itself under sustained criticism for the perceived health impacts of high voltage overhead power transmission lines, state utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara has

Rangga Prakoso – An antigraft coalition hit a roadblock on Tuesday in its legal bid to revive an investigation of lawmakers accused of tampering with the 2009 Health Law.

Efforts in Indonesia to save a volunteer-led community health initiative are working, but more is needed to increase the reach of the program, which is shown to improve child and matern

Rangga Prakoso – Tobacco control activists are continuing their long-running campaign against legislators accused of dropping a key clause from the 2009 Health Bill, demanding that a ha

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The incidence of HIV/AIDS in Papua has become a general epidemic stage that requires immediate action to prevent the further spread of the disease into th

Dessy Sagita – Antismoking activists have slammed the latest conspiracy theory that global forces want to hurt Indonesia's economy by destroying its tobacco industry.

Agus Maryono, Banyumas – At least five mothers have reportedly died due to maternity complications over the last month in Banyumas, Central Java, allegedly due to poverty.

The Jayapura administration is planning to require male residents to undergo circumcision in an effort to cut HIV/AIDS transmission rates in Papua.