Ministry partners with private parties to achieve zero dengue deaths

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Health Ministry is collaborating with private partners to run several sustainable efforts in tackling dengue hemorrhagic fever cases in Indonesia.

The cooperation is expected to help the government in achieving the target of zero deaths due to dengue fever by 2030.

"In order to reduce dengue cases in Indonesia, we need to implement a comprehensive and systematic strategy. We see data and system strengthening as the key to help us in achieving the goal. It needs strong synergy with the private sector," the ministry's Director General of Disease Prevention, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, noted in a statement on Friday (January 12).

Hence, the ministry collaborates with state-owned pharmaceutical company, PT Bio Farma, and PT Takeda to increase the role and capacity of health workers, communities, and society through the "Ayo 3M Plus" movement and implement dengue vaccination.

The collaboration also aims to strengthen data collection and validation of dengue cases spread in Indonesia and various innovations to reduce dengue cases, he remarked.

As one of the efforts in achieving the goal, the ministry launched the Arbovirosis Information System Application (SIARVI) in February 2023 to help record and report dengue and other Arbovirosis surveillance activities in real-time data.

Meanwhile, President Director of PT Takeda Innovative Medicines, Andreas Gutknecht, stated that his side is committed to tackling dengue fever by opening wide access to dengue prevention innovations.

"In this case, we are collaborating with Bio Farma, as a partner, to protect more people from the dangers of dengue," he remarked.

Furthermore, Bio Farma President Director Shadiq Akasya stated that in future, the cooperation will implement a dengue vaccination program, similar to the one carried out at the end of 2023 in East Kalimantan as one of the dengue-endemic areas in Indonesia with a high burden.

"We have allocated more than 19 thousand doses for East Kalimantan. We see this as a momentum for Indonesia to reduce the number of dengue cases and realize zero deaths from dengue in 2030," he remarked.

The Health Ministry noted that in 47 weeks of 2023 during the January-November period, some 83,302 cases of dengue fever were reported in 465 districts and cities in 34 provinces, with 574 cases of deaths.