When Health Services Can No Longer Be Sustained by the Government
Jakarta, KOMPAS.com - The strengthening of primary health care is no longer seen as something the government alone can bear. Civil society, higher education institutions, global organisations, and the private sector are increasingly important amid the evolving challenges of the global health system.
This view emerged at an official World Health Assembly (WHA) side event titled “From Chaos to Care: Rebuilding the Global Health Architecture” organised by the Centre for Indonesia’s Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Diah Satyani Saminarsih, founder and CEO of CISDI, said the redesign of the global health architecture must ensure that policies and international partnerships are more responsive to community needs. “What is needed now is a new way of building health partnerships that starts from the actual needs of the community,” she said during a panel discussion in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday (20 May 2026), quoted in the press release. “Solutions built must also reflect local context so that health systems can be more sustainable and truly meet the needs of the community.”
The forum featured speakers from various global institutions, including David Duong from Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Kumanan Rasanathan from WHO, Lutz Hegeman from Novartis, Anita Sabidi from PERSADIA Muda and the International Diabetes Federation, and Mikaël Garnier-Lavalley from the Pandemic Fund.
Diah explained that primary health care currently faces constraints in investment and capacity building, even though it forms the foundation of the health system closest to the community. “Universities play a crucial role as a bridge between local realities and global knowledge, so that the solutions built are truly relevant to community needs,” said Sudirman in a video message.
A similar view was expressed by Kumanan Rasanathan. He argued that strengthening primary health care must remain a priority even when global resources are limited. “We ask what the function of the global health architecture should be. For most countries this relates to global public goods,” he said. “It is time we keep our promise to cooperate and collaborate for better global health.”
David Duong of Harvard Medical School added that waning trust in health systems is a challenge that needs to be addressed with approaches closer to people’s experiences. “We have witnessed numerous reports of trust in health service systems declining significantly,” he said.
PHIL was developed in collaboration with Universitas Harkat Negeri, PT Tamaris Hidro, and Harvard Medical School. The programme, launched on 7 May 2026 in Jakarta, has become a research space and context-based dialogue at the UHN campus in Tegal, Central Java.
Mohammad Syahrial, President Director of PT Tamaris Hidro, said strengthening the health system requires joint commitment, including from the private sector. “We joined PHIL not merely to give symbolic support, but to invest in partnerships that we believe can address structural gaps,” he said in a video message.
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