Healthcare in Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia is a large state of Southeast Asia, located on several thousand volcanic islands. In terms of population (277 million people), Indonesia ranks 4th in the world, after China, India and the United States. Most of the population (about 58%) lives on the island of Java, despite the fact that its area is only 7% of the total area of the state, which makes this island the most densely populated in the world. The population of Indonesia is very multinational; the bulk are Javanese, about 4% are Malays and the same number are Chinese. The average life expectancy is 71 years: 68 for men and 74 for women, while the average age of Indonesians is 29 years. The main medical problem of Indonesians is the high prevalence of infectious diseases - typhoid fever, hepatitis A, dengue fever, malaria. This is largely due to climatic conditions and poor water quality - only about 80% of the population has access to drinking water, and the main method of disinfection is sunlight irradiation. The coronavirus pandemic has claimed the lives of 144,000 Indonesians, bringing the country's fatality rate to 3.4%. The maximum number of infections occurred in the summer of 2021, when up to 44,000 new cases were registered in the country per day. Compared to European countries, Indonesia is under-vaccinated with only 44.3% of the population completing the full course of vaccination and being able to receive two doses. Despite the fact that one of the significant sources of filling the country's budget is tourism revenue, as of the beginning of 2022, the country remains closed to tourists.