Cecilia Fabrizio, Senior Technical Advisor for the Vital Strategies Data for Health Initiative, Data Impact Program, recently travelled to Indonesia to plan for the launch of the program in Jakarta.
Here, she blogs about the trip:
I recently had the opportunity to join the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS Program) and Technical Assistance Group (TAG team) in Jakarta, Indonesia to begin the process of planning our Data for Health, Data Impact, work there.
My goal for the week-long trip was to engage with key people on the ground and learn about their current data use practices. The CRVS ‘Kick-off” meeting was hosted by World Health Organization (WHO) and attended by over 25 government stakeholders. I also met individually with about 10 internal and external stakeholders, including people at WHO, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and USAID.
Enrico Aditjondro, who works in-country for The Union and Vital Strategies, also shared valuable knowledge of the culture and policy practices in Indonesia.
The Bloomberg Data for Health Initiative will work to improve public health data systems in 20 countries. WHO estimates 65% of all deaths worldwide go unrecorded, while many more lack a documented cause. The initiative will help better inform governments about the causes of death so they can better direct their public health resources.
The program aims to help one billion people live healthier, longer lives.
The Ministry of Health in Indonesia is currently undergoing it’s annual planning exercise and will experience a major reorganization, including the establishment of a key policy planning department, the Center for Health Determinant Analysis.
Our next step will be to return to conduct a more thorough baseline assessment of data use, and to understand the Ministry’s priorities for technical assistance.
The Data for Health Initiative will officially launch in Indonesia this year.
You can learn more about the initiative at http://var/www/html.bloomberg.org/program/public-health/data-health/