Health Ministry asks TEP to map health issues in transmigration areas

indonesianupdates.com_admin

40 minutes ago

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Health Ministry has asked the Transmigration Ministry’s 2026 Patriot Expedition Team (TEP) to map public health issues and basic services in transmigration areas to support efforts to improve the quality of human resources.

Director General of Primary and Community Health at the ministry, Maria Endang Sumiwi, said the mapping should be conducted alongside the identification of economic potential by the 1,476 TEP participants, who will be deployed to various transmigration areas.

“I hope that, besides identifying economic potential, TEP members will also observe the quality of human resources when they go into the field,” Sumiwi said in an official statement here on Friday.

While delivering a briefing to the 2026 TEP participants, she said the participants need to assess the health conditions of communities across all age groups, from infants and adolescents to adults and the elderly, including their access to basic healthcare facilities and services.

She said improving public health is an essential part of realizing an advanced Indonesia because development success is determined not only by economic growth but also by people’s ability to live healthier and more productive lives for longer.

According to her, Indonesia’s life expectancy currently averages around 74 years, while it is about 76 years in Jakarta and around 67-68 years in Highland Papua.

She explained that public health challenges are also marked by a shift in the leading causes of death toward non-communicable diseases.

Stroke remains the leading cause of death, followed by heart disease and diabetes, while kidney failure has entered the top 10 causes of death.

Therefore, Sumiwi asked TEP participants to also pay attention to people’s dietary habits, physical activity, access to clean water and sanitation, non-smoking behavior, immunization, mental health, and regular health check-ups.

She added that the government has been implementing the Free Health Check-up (CKG) program, which has reached around 70 million people and is targeting 130 million health screenings, although access to the program remains low in several parts of Papua.

Therefore, she expressed hope that the TEP’s mapping would support the government’s health priority programs, including the CKG program, tuberculosis (TB) control, and improve access to hospital services.