Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Lawmakers criticized on Monday over accusations that the Health Ministry has yet to allocate sufficient budgets for basic health services for women and chi

Asulao Sare – Babies are plentiful in Timor Leste – almost seven per woman on average – and so too are health problems in a country where chronic malnutrition is rampant and access to e

Michael Holtz, Jakarta, Indonesia – Ignoring the red-and-white danger sign, Sri Mulyati walks slowly to the train tracks outside Indonesia's bustling capital, lies down and stretches he

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – Indonesia may fail to achieve balanced population growth by 2015 without intensifying the family planning campaign to curb men's refusals to use contrace

Arya Dipa, Bandung – Indonesian children voiced their health concerns by urging the government to increase cigarette prices and intensify anti-tobacco and anti-alcohol campaigns.

Dessy Sagita – As someone living with HIV, Chacha said he was concerned by reports suggesting his much-needed antiretroviral medication may soon be harder to come by.

Jakarta – The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has accused politicians, community leaders and local governments of being in thrall to the tobacco industry to perpetuate the industry's i

Bruce Gale – An elderly man was left literally rolling in pain outside the emergency room of the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) in Central Jakarta in mid-May after being den

Jakarta – Amid public pressure to enact the Social Insurers bill (BPJS), the government says the nation lacks the infrastructure to implement universal healthcare.

The illicit drug trade, typically associated with the country's larger cities, has now spread to every village across the archipelago, an official from the Social Affairs Ministry said.

Nurfika Osman – With the United Nations warning of rapid world population growth, experts are calling on the government to increase people's awareness of and access to family planning s

Camelia Pasandaran & Dion Bisara – As Indonesia struggles to address poverty and an overburdened health sector, a recent survey has found that spending on cigarettes is the second-b

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – A ministerial regulation on tobacco control (RPP) currently being drafted is part of a campaign to undermine local producers, tobacco industry lobbyists

Jack Epstein – The poster child for Indonesia's tobacco culture is a two-year-old boy who smokes 40 cigarettes a day.

Jakarta – Researchers say Indonesia loses US$37.2 billion a year, about 7 percent of its gross domestic product, due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, high blood press

The number of new HIV infections continues to rise in a nation with few testing clinics and the continued prevalence of unprotected sex, the latest health data shows.

Ambon, Maluku – Housewives emerged as the third largest group of HIV/AIDS infected people in Maluku in 2010, presumably because of their husbands' extramarital behavior, according to th

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Dozens of students from Jaringan Mahasiswa Peduli Tangerang (Jampat) staged a rally at Tangerang General Hospital (RSUD) on Wednesday following the death of a

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The increasing number of bylaws on HIV/AIDS prevention in Indonesia is apparently ineffective at curbing the spread of the disease among society, an observer

Faisal Maliki Baskoro & Ismira Lutfia – For all the talk of poor infrastructure and rampant corruption holding Indonesia back from its full potential, experts said, health is an equ

Dessy Sagita – As countries mark World No Tobacco Day today, Indonesia is still struggling to end the deadly addiction among its citizens despite overwhelming evidence that smoking is a

Dessy Sagita – Two years into drafting the 2009 Health Law's implementing regulations, the Health Ministry announced on Friday that the expected blanket ban on cigarette advertisements

Dessy Sagita – Efforts to curb HIV/AIDS transmission in the country are often hampered by religious leaders' lack of support and poor awareness of the disease, an official from the Nati

Jakarta – The Tangerang municipal administration – which is still continuing to pursue its vision of a more moralistic society through regulation – will in the near future likely be com

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – The number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Papua and West Papua has jumped by more than 30 percent to over 17,000 in just four months, an official said on

George Quinn – Since 2004 about 300 Cuban doctors, nurses and medical technicians have been working quietly but effectively in East Timor.

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – Siti Chomsatun is one of the loudest critics of medical malpractice Indonesia – despite an allegedly botched operation that left her almost mute.

The Health Ministry has high hopes of eradicating malaria in the country, but says massive deforestation – which pushes parasite-carrying animals toward urban areas – has threatened its

Dessy Sagita – Hadalya, a 32-year-old housewife, puts a lot of faith in antibiotics, believing they can help her recover faster from any disease.

Dessy Sagita – The Health Ministry said on Wednesday that it was preparing programs to fight increasing cases of overnutrition among Indonesian children.

The use of antibiotics has reached an alarming level in Indonesia, fueled by poor diagnosis, ignorance and poor regulation of drugs, experts say.

Nurfika Osman – Tackling waterborne diseases in Indonesia is a question of educating the 30 percent of the population still practicing open defecation, health experts say.

Tan Ee Lyn & Fitri Wulandari – Financial troubles drove Liana into prostitution almost four years ago, but the 30-year-old ex-accountant said she'd had no idea then that unprotected

Ulma Haryanto – Activists have accused the Indonesian government of failing to improve basic health care as it had promised in a United Nations covenant passed in 2005.

Tifa Asrianti, Jakarta – In the absence of competition and thorough supervision, the inadequate number of hospitals in Indonesia is a far cry from those convenient ones in neighboring c

Tifa Asrianti, Jakarta – There is no nationalism when it comes to pain; no distance is too far to travel for a cure when money is not an issue.

Tan Ee Lyn & Fitri Wulandari – Indonesia wants the private sector to build more hospitals and reserve a quarter of the available beds for the poor, as it increases spending on free

How much faith do you have in the scrawls your doctors write when prescribing drugs?

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – More than 250,000 children under the age of five suffers from malnutrition in West Java's impoverished northern coastal regions, an official says.

Jakarta – Excessive infant formula promotion may badly hamper ongoing efforts to boost the six-month-exclusive breastfeeding program needed to protect newborn babies, an activist says.

Zaky Pawas – Police have questioned four security guards from a Bogor hospital after they allegedly dumped a mentally ill man in a field near the North Bogor Police subprecinct station.

Dessy Sagita & Antara – The Health Ministry revealed on Thursday that a proposed ban on tobacco advertising would only be imposed in stages, as agreed upon by drafters of the decree

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The amount of money inefficiently spent by regional administrations to conduct local elections has led to cuts in spending for education and health services,

Dessy Sagita – While a proposal to install condom dispensers in Malang's red-light districts to help prevent the spread of HIV is laudable, it simply won't work in Indonesia, activists

Jakarta – The National AIDS Prevention Commission (KPA) says the 12 children the commission found living with HIV/AIDS in Jayapura district, Papua, are just the "tip of the iceberg".

Gillian Terzis, Tokyo – Social stigma, cash-strapped NGOs, and moralising politicians are stopping Indonesia taking necessary action to prevent an epidemic.

Nurfika Osman – A medical expert has warned that many Indonesian doctors may be putting major pharmaceutical companies ahead of their patients' well-being when it comes to prescribing d

The success of the family planning program in Situbondo, East Java, is proof that the role of religious leaders in debunking myths surrounding male contraception is important.

Jakarta – Most of the people reporting HIV/AIDS infections in Papua last year were housewives, accounting for 164 individuals, the government says.

Nurfika Osman – Children in half of all Indonesian households don't get enough vitamins or minerals, either because their families can't afford a healthy diet or are ignorant about prop