The rollout of universal health coverage in Indonesia has been greeted with public enthusiasm, but health experts warn that inadequate funding could undermine the quality of care.

SP/Robertus Wardi & Edi Hardum, Bogor – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday launched the government's new health insurance scheme, the first step toward its target of cove

Novy Lumanauw – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday officially revoked two presidential decrees he had signed on Sunday, which allowed ministers and other high-ranking governme

Kennial Caroline Laia – State-owned health insurance firm Askes says it is ready to roll out Indonesia's first national health care insurance scheme early next month.

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – The House of Representative's Legislative Body (Baleg) has rejected the Health Ministry's demand that it halt deliberations on the controversial tobacco b

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – Despite government efforts to combat malnutrition, the recently released basic health research (Riskesdas) shows an increase in the percentage of children

Dessy Sagita & Kennial Caroline Laia – A senior government health official has sought to distance himself from the controversy over a condom promotion campaign following opposition

Amir Tejo, Dessy Sagita & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – A backlash against a government campaign to emphasize the importance of condoms as part of an HIV/AIDS awareness program could h

Paulina Quintao – Despite the outcry from the community for the government to ban cigarette advertising in public spaces, the Minister of Health said it won't be able to because there i

Nadya Natahadibrata and Arya Dipa, Jakarta/Bandung – Wednesday's national strike by doctors protesting a Supreme Court ruling that sentenced three doctors to 10 months in jail for the d

Margareth S.

Havana – A total of 246 medical students in Timor-Leste received their degrees today in that nation as a part of a joint project between the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba an

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – Copies of a national newspaper featuring a half-page tobacco advertisement on its front page was given away at an event held by the Health Ministry to com

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – As many as 1.7 million local girls and women under the age of 24 give birth annually, with nearly a half a million of them being teenagers, a representati

Aditya L.

Paulina Quintao – The Marie Stopes International Timor-Leste (MSI-TL) Clinic Coordinator Maria Fernanda Serra said mothers who have unsafe abortions risk their lives and could die if th

Jakarta – The National Family Planning and Population Board (BKKBN) has said the maternal mortality rate in Papua Province remains high.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Dina Manafe – Tobacco industry lobbyists and lawmakers are rebuffing demands for stricter regulation, saying such a move would end millions of livelihoods

Dessy Sagita – Indonesia's reluctance to impose stricter smoking regulations and accede to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has made it a global l

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has put additional pressure on the government to immediately ratify the Framework Convention on Tobac

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – The National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) has warned that the country could fail to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as it con

Mariel Grazella, Jakarta – The government's universal healthcare coverage program is only three months away from its effective implementation scheduled for Jan.

Jakarta – A survey conducted by the National Commission on Child Protection (KPAI) has found that at least one in 10 Indonesian children decided to smoke after being exposed to tobacco

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – Indonesia has been ranked 100th out of 176 countries worldwide in terms of health equality for children, according to a report released by humanitarian or

Made Arya Kencana – Several academics, doctors and nongovernmental organization activists gathered in Bali on Sunday to petition the government to halt the World Tobacco Asia Forum, sla

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – The Health Ministry has revealed that more than 90 percent of people diagnosed with schizophrenia in the country have no access to medical treatment.

A group of 14 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has signed an online petition urging a drug manufacturer to offer Hepatitis C drugs at lower prices.

Dili, Timor-Leste – The Government of Timor-Leste, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the people of Quintal Bot district participated in a special ceremony today to mark the arrival o

The Laclubar Health Centre Chief Armelinda da C.

Jakarta – AIDS organizations were incensed over a statement by Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker Wirianingsih, which surfaced over the weekend, that AIDS patients should not be co

Dessy Sagita – A Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker was under fire on Monday for advocating that HIV-positive patients were undeserving of free medication because they needed to be

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – Indonesia is facing the double burden of malnutrition that refers to the coexistence of both undernutrition and overnutrition affecting its children's hea

Carlos Paath – The government has hailed the passage of new legislation that it says will tackle the chronic shortage of doctors serving Indonesia's rural and underdeveloped areas.

The Minister of Health Sergio da Costa Lobo said there are a lot of possibilities for private investment in the health sector, so they can better develop quality health assistance in th

Dili – Greater efforts are now needed to tackle the many challenges women face in accessing health care in Timor-Leste, which has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios (MMR) in t

The East Timor Law and Justice Bulletin has over the last few years published several reports on cases of babies being abandoned by their mothers in East Timor.

Dili – More work is needed to improve nutritional behaviour in Timor Leste, where 58 percent of children under five are stunted (too short for their age) due to chronic malnourishment,

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The National Commission on Tobacco Control (KNPT) alleged on Friday that the deliberation of the tobacco bill at the House of Representatives' Legislative

Efforts to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in the Indonesian provinces of Papua, which has among the country's highest rates of infection, and West Papua are making steady though slow progr

A grass-roots campaign to snuff out Indonesia's ubiquitous tobacco advertising is gaining traction online as thousands of anti-smoking advocates urged the Ministry of Technology and Com

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – A number of activists grouped under the Indonesian Kretek Community (KKI) staged a rally in Medan, North Sumatra, not to commemorate World Anti-Tobacco Day on F

Dessy Sagita – Five-year-old Bayu was watching a movie on television. During the ad break, a barrage of cigarette ads streamed across the screen.

Sita W.

Jakarta – An activist says that new Health Minister Regulation No.

Randy Fabi & Nilufar Rizki, Jakarta – When a sick Indonesian baby died after 10 hospitals in Jakarta turned her family away in February, critics blamed a pilot health insurance sche

Lenny Tristia Tambun – Eleven Jakarta hospitals announced on Friday that they backed out of the Jakarta Health Card program, saying that growing numbers of patients have exceeded their

Dessy Sagita – Though Indonesia has made significant progress in saving the lives of newborns over the past two decades, the country has been struggling to rescue mothers during childbi

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – The Health Ministry said Maluku, North Maluku, Papua and West Papua had the lowest rate of vaccination and births without the assistance of health workers

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Sixty-one residents of Samenage hamlet in Helenga district, Yahukimo, Papua, are reported to have died between January and March this year due to a variet

Robert Isidorus, Jayapura – Sixty-one people have reportedly died in the past three months in the Samenage district of Yahukimo, Papua, due to the lack of health-care facilities.