More tax in the nicotine

The Indonesian government is due on January 1 to increase tobacco excise from 56 percent to 65 percent as part of moves to discourage smoking, according to a story in The Jakarta Post.… Continue reading →

More than 21 million child abuse cases reported in Indonesia since 2010

The National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA) has recorded over 21 million child abuse cases in Indonesia over the last four years. The commission chairman, Arist Merdeka Sirait, explained that according to… Continue reading →

Indonesia Etc: Exploring the Improbable Nation. By Elizabeth Pisani

6/23/2014 / The Economist   Indonesia The road ahead Decoding a nation of 13,466 islands, 360 ethnic groups and 719 languages Jun 21st 2014 | From the print edition Indonesia Etc: Exploring the Improbable Nation.… Continue reading →

Tropical Disease

The control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) is one of the most cost-effective ways Indonesia can sustain economic growth and reduce inequality, said scientists today in an analysis published in PLOS… Continue reading →

University Students Consider Selling Kidneys to Cover School Costs

Five students studying at Brawijaya University’s Faculty of Social and Political sciences have offered to sell their kidneys in a desperate attempt to pay for their school costs and continue their studies. Protesting… Continue reading →

The next big thing… is you

Poor nutrition and growing levels of obesity are taking a toll on the health of Indonesians, experts warn, as an increasing number of people consume fast food and lead sedentary lifestyles. In recent… Continue reading →

Universal healthcare, more universal for some

The nationwide healthcare plan and the Jakarta pilot scheme has caught the attention of the private sector, which senses an opportunity to tap into demand for better health services from Indonesia’s rapidly growing… Continue reading →

Smoking, no smoking

Anti-smoking activists in Indonesia have welcomed a new law requiring health warnings on cigarettes. “It’s long overdue, but it’s progress,” Hakim Sorimuda Pohan, a member of the National Commission on Tobacco Control, told… Continue reading →

Heavy Rain

A woman carrying her baby inside a bucket as they wade through the floods in Dayeuhkolot subdistrict in Bandung, West Java, on Sunday. Heavy rains caused the Citarum river to overflow which led… Continue reading →

Bird flu kills 300,000 ducks amid fear of more human fatalities

Indonesia has identified the bird flu virus that killed hundreds of thousands of ducks in recent weeks as a more virulent type which is new to the country, according to a letter seen… Continue reading →

The Face of Childhood Nutrition in Eastern Indonesia

Recently, I read yet another article in the Indonesian press about child malnutrition. Or rather, it was less an article about malnutrition per se and more a presentation of the standard format: a… Continue reading →

HIV in Indonesia: In parts of the archipelago, housewives top prostitutes in new HIV cases

Here’s a statistic that begs an explanation from married Indonesian men: housewives in parts of the island nation now outnumber prostitutes when it comes to new cases of HIV. Those are the latest… Continue reading →