Indonesia ranks lowest on welfare index
JAKARTA (JP): Quality of life in Indonesia is ranked the lowest in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on a United Nations' index, Minister of Health Sujudi said yesterday.
Sujudi said Indonesia scored 0.584 on the UN's Human Development Index, as compared with Malaysia's 0.794, the Philippines' 0.621, Singapore's 0.836, Brunei's 0.829 and Thailand's 0.798.
The UN scale ranks quality of life on a scale of zero to one.
Sujudi made the remarks in an address to a national symposium on public health laws in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, which was read by the ministry's secretary-general, Hidayat Hardjorawito.
The index is calculated on the basis of three components: longevity, measured by life expectancy; knowledge, measured by years of schooling and literacy; and standard of living, measured by purchasing power.
"The latest welfare index suggests that Indonesia should work hard to improve the quality and distribution of health services," Sujudi said.
More intensive development of the health sector, he said, was most important in increasing Indonesians' intelligence quotient and productivity.
The one-day symposium at Hasanuddin University was held in cooperation with the provincial office of the health ministry, the Indonesian Medical Association and the Association of Experts on Medical Laws.
AIDS
Meanwhile, in Jakarta, public health expert Nafsiah Mboi warned that the spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus was a major threat to Indonesia's health development.
On a positive note, she said that a recent United Nations workshop on children in Florence, Italy, had recognized Indonesia's progress towards the goals of the 1990 World Summit on Children.
The workshop focused on countries in Africa and South Asia which were having greater difficulties in achieving the goals than Indonesia, she said.
Among the 1990 goals were the reduction of the rate of infant and under-five mortality by one third, that is, to 50 and 70, respectively, per 1,000 live births, by 2000.
Indonesia's child mortality rate dropped from 145 per 1,000 live births in 1970 to 55 per 1,000 in 1993.
However, Mboi repeated her warning that Indonesia's improvements in child survival could be rendered futile as many children might fall victim to AIDS.
Experts have said that few local doctors are able to recognize the symptoms of AIDS, which has a window period of about seven years.
Mboi has repeatedly expressed concern over the government's reluctance to embark on more intensive campaigns to prevent AIDS, such as providing sex education for teenagers. (anr)