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Newly certified midwives in South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Indonesia had a three-tiered system of community health centers in the late 1990s, with 0.66 hospital beds per 1,000 population, the lowest rate among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).^[1] In the mid-1990s, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were 16 physicians per 100,000 population in Indonesia, 50 nurses per 100,000, and 26 midwives per 100,000.^[1] Both traditional and modern health practices are employed. Government health expenditures are about 3.7 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).^[1] There is about a 75:25 percent ratio of public to private health-care expenditures.^[1]

Unsafe drinking water is a major cause of diarrhea, which is a major killer of young children in Indonesia.^[1]

[edit] Disease

In 2005 there were 303 reported cases of polio in Indonesia.

Human immuno-deficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) has posed a major public health threat since the early 1990s.^[1] In 2003 Indonesia ranked third among ASEAN nations in Southeast Asia, lagging behind Myanmar and Thailand, with a 0.1 percent adult prevalence rate, 130,000 HIV/AIDS cases, and 2,400 deaths.^[1] In Jakarta it is estimated that 17 percent of prostitutes have contracted HIV/AIDS; in some parts of Papua, it is thought that the rate of infection among village women who are not prostitutes may be as high as 26 percent.^[1]

Two other health hazards facing Indonesia in 2004 were dengue fever, dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and avian influenza.^[1] All 30 provincial-level units were affected by dengue fever and DHF, according to the WHO. The outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (A/H5N1) in chickens and ducks in Indonesia was said to pose a significant threat to human health.^[1]

[edit] Air quality

• 1997 Southeast Asian haze and 2006 Southeast Asian haze - In all countries affected by the smoke haze, an increase of acute health outcomes was observed. Health effects; included emergency room visits due to respiratory symptoms such as asthma, upper respiratory infection, decreased lung function as well as eye and skin irritation, were caused mainly by this particulate matter.

[edit] See also

Indonesia portal

• HIV/AIDS in Indonesia
• Water supply and sanitation in Indonesia
• Environmental issues in Indonesia

[edit] References