Govt awards WHO's SE Asia director

JAKARTA: The government conferred on Wednesday the Satya Lencana Wirakarya medal on the World Health Organization (WHO) director for Southeast Asia, Uton Muchtar Rafei.

The award, the highest in the health sector, was presented by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla. Also attending the presentation was Minister of Health Ahmad Sujudi.

"Pak Uton deserves the award because he has rendered many services to Indonesia by developing the health sector in and outside the country," said Kalla.

Kalla added WHO had supported many of the country's health programs, including improvement of basic health services and eradication of communicable diseases.

Uton has many awards under his belt, including the Ksatria Bakti Husada Aditya medal from the Ministry of Health and the Garuda Nugraha Wibawa from the National Defense Institute. He has also has received awards from overseas, including India, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand and Bangladesh. -- JP