President Jokowi Orders Health Minister to Improve Zoonotic Preventions

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has instructed Minister of Health to improve zoonotic preventions and control, antimicrobial resistance, and food safety.

The instruction was stated in Presidential Instruction Number 4 of 2019 on Capacity Enhancement in Preventing, Detecting, and Responding to Outbreaks of Disease, Global Pandemic, and Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Emergencies which was signed on 17 June 2019. (link: Presidential Instruction Number 4 of 2019)

The President also instructs Minister of Health to review and improve laws and policies in the health sector related to global health security improvement and financial support.

In addition, the President also instructs the Minister to enhance health surveillance capacity  to identify occurrence that can potentially cause public health emergencies, including situation at the entrance points of the country, antimicrobial resistance, and food safety.

The President also instructs Minister of Health to increase scope and quality of vaccination and increase capacity and strengthen laboratory networks that support identification of public health problems.

President Jokowi, through the Presidential Instruction, also instructs Minister of Industry to increase vigilance surveillance, detect potential risks, and quick response to emergency caused by hazardous chemicals sourced from various chemical industries.

Furthermore, the President also instructs Minister of Agriculture to improve prevention and control of zoonotic, new infectious diseases, and antimicrobial resistances—especially those that can potentially cause public health emergencies—by, among others: supervising use of fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals substances that potentially threaten the safety of products of animal origin (food and non-food) and supervising and controlling the traffic of animals and materials originating from animals between regions and between countries.

The Presidential Instruction further assigns Minister of Agriculture to enhance capacity and availability of veterinarians and veterinary paramedics to deal with wildlife health, improve facilities and infrastructure for handling wildlife health, and supervise and control wildlife traffic and materials from wild animals between regions and countries.

The budget for the implementation of this Presidential Instruction is from the State Budget and regional budgets, as well as other legal and non-binding sources in accordance with the provisions of laws.

“The Presidential Instruction shall apply as of the date of its promulgation,” reads the last part of Presidential Instruction Number 4 of 2019 issued in Jakarta on 17 June 2019. (Pusdatin/ES)

Translated by: Galuh Wicaksono
Edited by: Muhammad Ersan Pamungkas