Location: Jakarta

Situation:

With more than 40 million inhabitants living below the poverty line, Indonesia is faced with a precarious health and socio-economic situation, further weakened by many natural disasters. In these circumstances, access to healthcare for the archipelago's isolated populations and shantytown residents remains difficult. Indonesia is still, therefore, dependent on humanitarian organisations to deal with the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV and tuberculosis.

Activities:

Doctors of the World (DoW) was working in the shantytowns in the north of Jakarta, where many rural people now live. Their illegal occupancy status prevents them from accessing health services. DoWcontinued to provide care in four clinics with nutritional support to children who are malnourished or who have tuberculosis, vaccination sessions and growth monitoring for children and pregnant women. In addition, the team has trained community health agents, provided first aid training and family planning education, and supported patients needing medical referrals. Finally, the team have lobbied the health authorities for better access to healthcare for the illegal communities.

Outlook:

The programme closed at the end of the first project cycle in August 2008.