REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Scientists challenged the Indonesian presidential and vice presidential candidates, Joko Widodo-KH Ma'ruf Amin and Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno to campaign over health issues in the country. The campaign should also include the issue of vaccines, which still has pros and cons within the community, said Professor Dr Musdah Mulia, member of the Indonesian Young Scientists Academy (ALMI), during a discussion about vaccines here on Friday.
On the occasion, Mulia emphasized that the quality of a nation's health was a reflection of the quality of its human resources.
"Will the president and vice presidential hopefuls campaign over health? Because the quality of a nation is represented by the quality of its health," said Mulia, who is also a lecturer at the Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University in Jakarta.
Meanwhile, ALMI Chairman Prof. Jamaluddin Jompa, during the discussion, stated that if the government could set up a policy on immunization obligations, it would help improve the quality of health in Indonesia. But he then questioned whether the Indonesian government dared to introduce such unpopular policies.
In addition, coordinator of the ALMI Science and Education working group Sudirman Nasir added that in almost all countries, the life expectancy of people above 75 years of age was linked to public health policies. One of them is to require immunization in the community as a condition to get incentives or vice versa.
According to him, the policy would indeed be unpopular in the beginning but it would impact public health in the future.
An ALMI member, who is also a vaccine researcher from PT Bio, Farma Neni Nurainy explained that immunization is an effort to prevent disease at a cost that is much cheaper than medical expenses. Nurainy gave an example of a vaccine for Hepatitis B with a price of Rp150 thousand that could provide protection for a person's body for up to 10 years.
"But if you are ill, the treatment charges for a one-time process can reach Rp50 million," Nurainy pointed out.
The coverage of rubella (MR) measles immunization carried out in 28 provinces outside Java Island is still at around 50 percent of the 95 percent target. The MR immunization campaign was conducted by the government from August to September 2018.
