ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved an investment loan worth $650 million to upgrade and improve primary health care facilities in Indonesia.
The loan funds will also be allocated to public health laboratories throughout Indonesia to improve the prevention, detection and treatment of infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases and other health conditions.
ADB Human and Social Development Director Karin Schelzig said that the Primary Healthcare and Public Health Laboratories Upgrading and Strengthening (PLUS) Project directly supports two government projects under the Indonesian Health Transformation agenda.
First, Strengthening of Primary Healthcare in Indonesia (SOPHI). Second, the Indonesia-Public Health Laboratory System Strengthening (InPULS) program.
“This investment is the third in a series of ADB support to the Indonesian Government in developing and implementing the post-pandemic Indonesian Health Transformation Agenda,” he said in an official statement, Wednesday, December 13 2023.
In total, this investment of nearly US$4 billion was jointly financed by three other multilateral development banks, namely the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), and the World Bank.
It is hoped that this funding injection will address a number of critical gaps and disparities in the service readiness of primary health care facilities, public health laboratories and referral hospitals in Indonesia in an effort to achieve universal access to quality health services, as well as increase the resilience and robustness of the health system.
This project will equip more than 10,000 primary health care facilities and more than 500 public health laboratories throughout Indonesia to truly meet the minimum service standards set by the government.
This support will include equipment procurement, delivery, installation, user training, operations and maintenance (O&M) services, as well as capacity building in O&M.
ADB Director for Indonesia Jiro Tominaga said that this investment would be the foundation for standardizing primary health care services.
“Also reducing gaps in access to standardized services, especially for poor groups, residents in rural areas and in remote areas,” he said.
This project will contribute significantly to climate change mitigation in the health sector through upgrading facilities with energy-efficient equipment. Strengthening the public health laboratory network will also strengthen health resilience and preparedness to tackle the threat of future pandemics, including those related to climate change.
Meanwhile, the government has increased the health budget in the 2024 State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) to 187.5 trillion rupiah. This amount is an increase of 8.7 percent or 15 trillion rupiah from the outlook for this year’s health budget.
The value of the 2024 health budget itself is equivalent to 5.6 percent of the APBN. (AT Network)
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