Despite significant improvements in many health outcomes over the past 60 years, many chronic problems in Indonesia’s health system including financial sustainability, governance and inequities in accessing health care have long been apparent, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. The epidemiological transition associated with demographic and socioeconomic change in recent decades makes Indonesia one of many countries that still struggle to address the issues of communicable, maternal and nutritional diseases while facing an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases.
The contributors to In Sickness and In Health: Diagnosing Indonesia investigate challenges and opportunities facing the Indonesian health system and assess hurdles that Indonesians have to navigate in their quest to achieve a longer and better quality of life. Politics shaping recent health policy reforms in Indonesia, barriers to the supply of specialist doctors and quality medicines, availability of accurate health and population data, and the financial toll of the COVID-19 pandemic are among the topics discussed in this book. Accessing essential health services for mothers and children and for those living with disability, discrimination and mental illness, as well as an innovative trial to control dengue, are also examined.