The ongoing forest fires on parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan, brought about by people's slash-and-burn practices to clear land for palm oil and paper industries, are now labelled a crime against humanity by global media while Indonesia has turned into the world's largest daily carbon dioxide emissions surpassing China and the USA. The severe haze that has been plaguing parts of Southeast Asia brings health problems, economic costs and bad publicity amid a time when most countries are teaming up to combat global warming.

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Indonesia’s reference thermal coal price hit another all-time low. The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources set the September coal price (in Indonesian: Harga Batubara Acuan, or HBA) at USD $58.21 per metric ton (FOB), down 1.6 percent from the August reference rate, and the fifth consecutive month of decline. Indonesia is the world’s largest thermal coal exporter.

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The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) stated in a recently published report that Indonesia has made significant progress in reducing the country’s child mortality rate. According to the report, entitled “Committing to Child Survival: A Promise Renewed (Progress Report 2015)", Indonesia’s mortality rate for children below the age of five years currently stands at 27 deaths per 1,000 births, a significant improvement from the 85 deaths per 1,000 births that was recorded in 1990.

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Indonesia and Malaysia are again plagued by a traditional haze caused by forest fires in Palangkaraya (Central Kalimantan). The thick haze resulted in the cancellation of various commercial flights at the local airports in Jambi (Sumatra) and Surabaya (Java). Furthermore, it was reported that in parts of Malaysia an unhealthy air quality was recorded.

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The number of smokers in Indonesia continues to rise from year to year. Based on the latest data from Basic Health Research (Riset Kesehatan Dasar) a total of 58.8 million Indonesians aged over ten years smoked in 2013, more than ten times the population of neighbouring Singapore. In one year, these smokers lit around 225 billion cigarettes making Indonesia the third-largest tobacco consumer after China and India. More alarming, about four million of these Indonesian smokers are children between the age of 10 to 14 years.

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In the Safe Cities Index 2015, launched by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta is ranked at the bottom of the index. The Safe Cities Index, which covers 50 large cities worldwide (selected on factors which include regional representation and availability of data), based its ranking on an average score across four categories: digital security, health security, infrastructure safety and personal safety. In 2014, data from the Jakarta Police showed that 213 out of every 100,000 Jakartans were victims of various crimes.

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Starting from January 2015, Indonesian tobacco products are subject to an average tax rise of 8.7 percent. The excise tax on machine-rolled cigarettes becomes IDR 355 (USD $0.03) and on hand-rolled cigarettes IDR 290 (USD $0.02) per stick. The tax hike is implemented by the government in a move to increase state income through tax revenues. The higher excise tax is expected to have a minor effect on tobacco sales in Indonesia as retail prices for cigarettes remain among the lowest in the Southeast Asian region.

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Indonesia and four other countries have filed an official complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over a recent new law in Australia. This law (‘2011 Tobacco Plain Packaging Act’), in effect since 1 December 2012, requires the removal of all branding (such as colours, imagery, and corporate logos) on cigarette packages. Indonesia’s Trade Ministry believes that the law violates several WTO rules, such as an agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights and an agreement on the technical barriers to trade.

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Indonesia Investments has updated the company profile of PT Kalbe Farma Tbk. Kalbe Farma is the largest listed pharmaceutical company in Indonesia and Southeast Asia (listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange/IDX). The company’s main business focus rests on four divisions: prescription pharmaceuticals, consumer health products, nutritionals as well as distribution & logistics. Its a leading provider of “comprehensive healthcare solutions”, from pharmaceuticals, nutrition, health foods and beverages to medical devices, including primary healthcare service.

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According to the Indonesian Ministry of Health, approximately one-third of Indonesians aged over ten years smoke (36 percent), with 67 percent of men and 4.5 percent of women smoking some form of tobacco. While Indonesia is the fifth-largest tobacco market in the world, it is the only World Health Organization (WHO) member state in Southeast Asia that has not ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The FCTC was developed in response to the globalisation of the tobacco industry and tobacco use.

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It is interesting to take a quick look at Indonesia’s national healthcare program (in Indonesian: Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional, JKN) that is managed by the government’s Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan).

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The COVID-19 crisis in Indonesia continues to show an easing trend reflected in the declining number of new positive COVID-19 test results across the Archipelago in September 2021 (a trend that started in mid-July 2021 when the tsunami-shaped wave of new COVID-19 cases peaked).

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For more than a year now, small-scale studies from around the world suggest that a medicine called Ivermectin (which is actually used to treat various types of parasite infestations) is effective to combat COVID-19, both in a prophylactic (prevention) and therapeutic (treatment) setting.

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On 1 July 2021 Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced emergency measures (in Indonesian: Pemberlakukan Pembatasan Kegiatan Masyarakat Darurat, or PPKM Darurat, which roughly translates to the Enforcement of Restrictions on Activities in Society) in a renewed effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The pharmaceutical industry has been a center of focus in the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis because it has an important role to play. This industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets (pharmaceutical) drugs for use as medications, with the aim to cure the patients, vaccinate them, or alleviate the symptoms. Hence, developing a vaccine or cure to COVID-19 is the responsibility of the pharmaceutical industry.

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Across the globe governments and pharmaceutical companies are busy working on a vaccine to make people immune against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Having the availability of a reliable vaccine would be a solution because COVID-19 seems to spread quite easily, while the majority of the world's population remains vulnerable to the virus.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) repeatedly emphasizes that hygienic sanitation facilities are crucial for public health. It is estimated that each year around 842,000 people in low and middle-income countries die as a result of inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene. Poor sanitation is believed to be the main cause in some 280,000 of these deaths.

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The Indonesian government launched its universal healthcare program (Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional, or JKN) on 1 January 2014. This government-subsidized program aims to cover all Indonesian citizens - providing them with access to a wide range of health services – by the year 2019.

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Health awareness in Indonesia is at a very low level, especially in the cities, as Indonesians tend to eat too much unhealthy food and exercise too little. Therefore, health awareness is something that needs to be encouraged in Indonesia. However, government programs - such as the "Healthy Four, Perfect Five" principles - seem to have limited effect and therefore there is plenty of room for the private sector to encourage consumers to lead a healthier lifestyle. In fact, encouraging a healthier lifestyle can become part of a business model.

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Culinary is certainly a promising business in Indonesia, particularly in Jakarta. Jakarta Dining Index Research done by Qraved reveals that every year, Jakartans dine out as many as 380 million times and spend up to IDR 21.4 trillion (approx. USD $1.5 billion). This fact is supported by huge growth of mid-scale restaurants (amounting up to 250 percent) in the last five years. It is therefore not surprising that Jakarta has an abundant option of restaurants.

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