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Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health
DOI: 10.1177/1010539509350912 2010; 22; 25 Asia Pac J Public Health
Made Ady Wirawan
Public Health Responses to Climate Change Health Impacts in Indonesia
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Volume 22 Number 1 January 2010 25-31 © 2010 APJPH 10.1177/1010539509350912 http://aph.sagepub.com hosted at http://online.sagepub.com
Public Health Responses
to Climate Change Health
Impacts in Indonesia
I Made Ady Wirawan, MD, MPH
Although climate change is a global concern, there are particular considerations for Indonesia as an archipelagic nation. These include the vulnerability of people living in small islands and coastal areas to rising sea levels; the expansion of the important mosquito-borne diseases, par-ticularly malaria and dengue, into areas that lack of immunity; and the increase in water-borne diseases and malnutrition. This article proposes a set of public health responses to climate change health impacts in Indonesia. Some important principles and practices in public health are high-lighted, to develop effective public health approaches to climate change in Indonesia.
Keywords: climate change; Indonesia; public health practices; public health principles
C
limate change is a current global concern. Its impacts on the ecosystem and human health were highlighted on World Health Day 2008 with the theme “protecting health from climate change.” It is stated that a changing climate is likely to affect the conditions that determine public health, including vector-borne diseases, safe drinking water, secure shelter, food supply, and social relations.1 It is projected that the temperaturewill increase from 0.2°C to 0.3°C per decade in Indonesia. This will result in changing in water availability, rising sea level, and have other impacts on ecosystem.2
Being an archipelago, Indonesia is exceptionally susceptible to rising sea levels. Approximately 100 of Indonesia’s more than 17 000 islands are considered as small and generally flat.3 These small islands are mainly located in remote areas of Indonesia.
Additionally, Indonesia has 81 000 kilometers of coast of which 50% to 70% is inhabited.4
Communities living on the small islands and along the coastal lines are at higher risk of flooding, which may necessitate coastal population evacuation. This could have a consider-able impact on the population’s health, especially on the health of the refugees. Most dis-placed people are housed in camps and shanties, which are vulnerable to increased social problems, violence, and communicable diseases.5
Rising temperatures and variable precipitation encourage the expansion of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, hemorrhagic fever, and malaria. Global warming could potentially lengthen the transmission seasons of these important vector-borne diseases.6 An
increase in rainfall could expand Indonesia’s dengue transmission zone and considerably increase the population at risk from the disease. This is of particular concern in regions that
From the School of Public Health, Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia.
26 Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health / Vol. 22, No. 1, January 2010
lack immunity within the population as it results in more severe and fatal cases.7 Similarly,
malaria, which has caused high mortality and morbidity in eastern Indonesia, particularly in Papua, Maluku, and the East Nusa Tenggara islands, could further expand into other parts of this country. According to the Indonesian Ministry of Health,8-10 the incidence of malaria
in Java and Bali increased significantly from 18 per 100 000 people in 1998 to 48 per 100 000 in 2000, and showed a steady increase until 2007. It is also reported that malaria has spread to almost a half of nearly 400 districts in 30 provinces.
Water-borne diseases such as cholera and diarrheal conditions could also become more common in all areas. Food and water stored without proper refrigeration in warmer tem-peratures contain a higher concentration of pathogens.11 Water scarcity and problems of
freshwater supply can also been linked to climate change. Those who live in village areas will be most affected by the increase in water-borne diseases.
Decline in agriculture productivity and aquaculture because of droughts in some areas, rising sea levels, and extreme events would diminish food security.2 This situation
contrib-uted to starvation and malnutrition in the eastern parts of Indonesia in recent years. There are also some direct impacts of climate change. Extreme temperatures could cause other health problems, such as heart dysfunction, heat exhaustion, certain respiratory problems, and lung tissue damage.12 Considerable forest fires caused by climate change–
driven droughts in the Indonesian island of Sumatera have resulted in the increase of respi-ratory illness and allergy symptoms.13
It is estimated that a significant increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration is likely in the next 5 decades. Combined with ongoing population growth, poverty, and other environmental changes, projected climate change is expected to place a serious stress on Indonesia and its population. This article aims to discuss a set of public health responses to climate change health impacts in Indonesia. It addresses some important principles in public health and its practices to find an effective public health approaches to climate change in Indonesia.
Public Health Approaches to Climate Change in Indonesia
It is clear that the indirect impacts of climate change in Indonesia would be wider than the direct impacts. The strategic response to address the indirect health outcomes will require the principles and practices of public health.
Public health practices concern on three levels of prevention, that is, primary, second-ary, and tertiary prevention.14 With regard to climate change, primary prevention deals with
how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to slow and stem global warming, which is known as mitigation. Secondary and tertiary prevention related to adaptation, that is, how to deal with the risks and threats posed by climate change to diminish the related health burden.15,16
Public Health Role in Mitigation
Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank17 stated that
Indonesia has become one of the 3 largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world. In mitigation attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the involvement of other sectors is imperative, although the role of health sector cannot be denied.15 Although the mitigation
role could be appropriately performed by health professionals and scientists, if they are sup-ported by sufficient resources, facilities, and supplies to conduct high-quality research. This means that universities, the government, nongovernmental organizations, and international bodies should work closely to increase capacity to perform interdisciplinary research. In addition, one of the public health principles, intersectoral collaboration, is needed. There are some current governmental departments in Indonesia, including Department of Environment, Department of Transportation, Department of Energy and Natural Resources, Department of Forestry, and Department of Health that could collaborate with one another.
Indonesian efforts have been shown by strong commitment from the government to address this issue. It was indicated by signing the Kyoto Protocol in 1998 and ratifying it through Law No. 17 of 2004.19 However, Indonesian efforts on emissions reduction have not
yet been optimal.17 It seems that the degree to which these efforts will have an effect will
depend on the leadership in every sector to deal with these serious concerns in Indonesia.
Public Health Role in Adaptation
Health promotion. It is important to provide communication, information, and education about health issues arising because of climate change. Some people might believe that the climate change health effects are threatening. However, it is shown that only 20% of Americans understand climate change very well.15 In developing countries such as Indonesia,
the percentage of people who understand the issue might be lower.
The messages about climate change health effects could be integrated into some exist-ing health promotion programs. This is feasible although that practice has not been opti-mally applied.20 The integration of such efforts would be effective if it is performed in
primary health care (PHC).21 PHC in Indonesia, which is commonly known as community
health center, is available in every subdistrict. This practice would increase the accessibility of 240 million or more people, almost a half of whom live in remote Indonesia. The PHC approaches are also suitable to address specific groups, considering differences in the levels of understanding, culture, ethnicity, and susceptibility to the climate change health effects.
Relocating populations. There are some particular concerns related to climate change impacts
on small islands. People living in the small islands and coastal areas are particularly vulnerable to tropical cyclones, flooding, drought, and tsunami. It is stated that adaptation strategies to sea level rise are classified into 3 categories, namely, “retreat, accommodate, and protect.”13
Retreat means leaving the land to minimize the risk of loss of infrastructures. Accommodation indicates altering land use because of rise in water levels, such as “raising buildings, or changing to more salt-tolerant crops.” Protection means the use of constructed barriers to protect coastlines from the sea.13
In Indonesia’s small islands, this could mean moving people from some low-level areas to higher grounds, if possible on the same island. However, this will face strong ethical and human rights issues. It is unethical to encourage people to abandon their land when there is uncertainty about the outcomes. Accommodation and protection could face difficulties related to the availability of resources. The challenge here is to shift this responsibility to local government because the decentralization process at regency level is currently improv-ing, with guidance from central government and experts.
Although most disasters cannot be prevented, their effects could be anticipated.22 It is
28 Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health / Vol. 22, No. 1, January 2010
related to displaced population. Most displaced people are generally housed in camps and slums, which are vulnerable to increased social problems, violence, and the spread of com-municable diseases.5 However, these approaches are difficult to follow because of the lack
of awareness from the community, government, and other related sectors about this issue. This is mainly because of the uncertainty related to the climate change outcomes especially those related to population displacement.16,23 It is a challenge to convince all sectors that
there should always be preparedness to deal with the worst scenario. The precautionary principle suggests that precautionary measures should be taken when there is threat of harm to human health, although the scientific associations are not fully established.24 This
principle can be used to increase the awareness of related sectors to collaborate in ensuring community safety.
Another issue that is well established in public health is health inequity. The threat of climate change impacts on small islands and coastal areas, especially in the eastern parts of Indonesia is one of the contributors to this health inequity. This excessively threatens some populations, especially poor people in isolated community, ethnic and minority groups.25
Vulnerability assessments should be performed in such areas to be able to make public health actions that address the most vulnerable populations and focus on eliminating the health inequity.
Surveillance. The role of surveillance in determining disease trends, identifying vulnerable
groups and areas as well as in planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health programs is without doubt an important one.14 Good surveillance systems will provide
guidance to design effective public health programs. There are some data that should be systematically collected in developing responses to climate change, including data on environmental risks, vulnerability, and diseases. Data of environmental risks comprises meteorological data such as temperature trends. These data also cover ecological data such as mosquito density. The vulnerability of each area should be assessed, including physical factors such as altitude, infrastructure, and facilities, as well as social factors such as remoteness and poverty.26,27 The collection of the environmental risk and ecological data
could be integrated to a public health approach specifically developed for the small islands and coastal areas that is mentioned in the previous section.
Diseases data are usually collected in the current public health programs. The commu-nicable diseases programs currently collect these data routinely. This is related to climate variability and should be strengthened to be able to monitor food-borne and water-borne diseases.28 Surveillance of vector-borne diseases could be closely linked to the environmental
risk surveillance, especially mosquito density data in prevention of malaria and dengue hem-orrhagic fever. Additionally, current integrated service centers in every village that are run by PHC could be used to collect data related to malnutrition, particularly in areas that face decrease in agriculture or aquaculture productivity.
Surveillance on environmental risk, vulnerability, and disease is currently performed separately through different methods. It is imperative to integrate all these data to make an effective surveillance system to address adverse health impacts caused by climate change. This system should be also expanded to reach all community levels.15 This can be achieved
through vertical coordination from central government to subdistrict level with clear mech-anism of reporting.
data (vector density), and epidemiological data (water-borne and vector-borne diseases rates).29 This system will give warnings when increased risk could be expected. Although
Indonesia has not yet developed a national early warning system for disease outbreaks, the Indonesian Ministry of Health has instructed all provincial governments to prepare for potential dengue outbreaks before the rainy season (August to September).13 The
prepara-tion includes health campaigns, cleaning up mosquito breeding sites, and data collecprepara-tion of dengue incidence in every local district hospital. Policy makers, local governments, and community must be regularly informed about the importance of these measures. Mean-while, the central government should start multisectoral collaboration to create an effective early warning system.
The instruction could be also expanded to the prevention of water-borne diseases and malnutrition. In this light, the instruction is for local governments to prepare for possible outbreaks of diarrheal diseases because of the lack of safe water supplies before the dry season (April to May). The preparation might include health education about the impor-tance of sanitation and adequate supply of drinking water to prevent diarrheal diseases. In addition, every health center and hospital should ensure the availability of supplies, essen-tial drugs, and so on in anticipation of the increased number of cases.
As suggested in the previous section about health promotion, the role of PHCs is a very important one. The basis of this program has been developed since the introduction of PHC during the declaration of Alma-Ata.30 This really needs strong commitment from
all sectors; and community involvement to support this idea is pivotal. Community involve-ment could be in the form of the provisions of community health workers (CHWs) or volunteers and the participation of the community per se to the success of the early warn-ing system.31 CHWs are available as part of the health system in Indonesia. The provisions
of imparting appropriate training to them and what simple steps can do for their involve-ment would be beneficial and can create a bridge between the community and the health sectors. This is particularly important for addressing the concerns of people who live in remote and vulnerable communities.
In Indonesia, particular consideration should be given to the spread of vector-borne dis-ease to the areas that lack immunity.23,32,33 Areas such as Jakarta, Bali, East Java, and East
Kalimantan have a high incidence of dengue and so the population have better immunity than Sumba for instance, which has a low incidence of dengue but the highest rate of malaria.9
Poorly developed infrastructure and high levels of poverty here mean that a dengue infection could worsen the situation. Indeed, the spread of dengue in areas where there is lack of immu-nity is one of the reasons why the fatality rate for dengue has been so difficult to control. The application of the surveillance system to monitor the cases is important and should be com-bined with the preparedness of health care to provide adequate case management.
Health workforce training. The integration of preventive and curative approach is also needed.
The capacity of health centers in disease management should be enhanced. This could be achieved by providing regular health workforce training.15,29
It is stated that a qualified and competent health worker is essential to the success of the health system. An intensive effort will be required at the district, provincial, and central levels, in preparing the health workforce for the possible impacts of climate change and for other challenges over the next decades. Medical and public health practitioners should be trained to identify and manage emerging health threats that may be related to climate change. This should ensure an essential set of competencies throughout the health system and building capacity for scientists with multidisciplinary and specialized skills.15 The
30 Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health / Vol. 22, No. 1, January 2010
Conclusion
There are particular conditions that should be considered for Indonesia as an archipelago in dealing with climate change. These include the vulnerability of people living in small islands and coastal areas to rising sea levels, the expansion of the important mosquito-borne diseases (dengue and malaria) into areas that lack of immunity, and the increase in water-borne dis-eases and malnutrition.
Public health approaches to those issues are mainly placed into mitigation and adap-tation measures. Public health plays more important role in the adapadap-tation, which can be categories into some practices, including health promotion, relocating populations, surveil-lance, prevention, and preparation for communicable disease control and health workforce training. It is clearly shown that all of those practices are interdependent on each other. Interdependence is also shown between preventive and curative approaches.
There are some public health principles that should be highlighted to develop an effec-tive approach. Intersectoral collaboration is imperaeffec-tive in all practices both in mitigation and adaptation. This would involve all sectors and departments, governmental and nongov-ernmental organizations, universities, community elements as well as international bodies. Some ethical, human rights, and inequity issues could, however, arise especially in address-ing more remote, vulnerable, and small island communities.
The capacity of existing PHC centers should be improved, as PHC approaches could reduce health inequity and bring health services closer to the community. The role of munity health workers is undoubtedly important and would provide a bridge between com-munity and health centers especially in addressing people living in more remote areas.
The highly complex effects of climate change will vary significantly by region and popu-lation group. The degree to which the approach will give maximum beneficial effects will be determined by the quality of governance and leadership that addresses this serious issue of uncertainty of the impacts.
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