A Serious Issue: Nine Ministries and Agencies Sign a Joint Decree on Child Mental Health

Jakarta — The government has taken a serious step to tackle the issue of children’s mental health, marked by the signing of a Joint Decree on Child Mental Health by nine ministers and heads of agencies in Jakarta on Thursday. The Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs Pratikno, in a meeting at the office of the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Cultural Affairs in Jakarta, explained the extraordinary urgency to address the issue of children’s mental health in Indonesia, highlighting several recent suicide cases by children and violence by children against their parents. “The trend of mental health cases among children is continuing to rise. Suicide among children has increased; details will be provided later. When we look at risk factors, this is a multi-sector issue that cannot be tackled by a single ministry. That is why the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection and the Minister of Health have invited various parties to address children’s mental health,” Pratikno said. Pratikno highlighted the roles of the nine sectors and their ministries and agencies to address children’s mental health, ranging from family problems that often underpin the issue, as well as violence in schools and madrasahs, to exposure to certain content on social media. “We must ensure that our policies are comprehensive and implemented. Be it promotive, preventive, curative, or rehabilitative. But we also must ensure that those policies are implemented in an integrated manner,” said Coordinating Minister Pratikno.