9 June 2021

Officials from South Sulawesi Province have declared their readiness to implement the Australia Indonesia Health Security Partnership (AIHSP) program.

Acting Governor Andi Sudirman Sulaiman made intentions clear during a virtual meeting on 9 June 2021, attended by representatives of the Australian Government, Indonesia’s Health and Agriculture ministries, and the South Sulawesi Provincial Government.

A strategic partnership between the Australian and Indonesian governments, the AIHSP is a 5-year program that aims to increase national health security in Indonesia by taking a unified approach to human, animal and environmental health issues.

“Thank you to the Australian Government and the Australian Embassy, and the Australian Consul-General in Makassar, for supporting us all this time,” Acting Governor Sulaiman said.

“I am open to discussion and communication any time in regards to how this partnership program can be a success in South Sulawesi.”

This sentiment was echoed by the Australian Consul-General in South Sulawesi, Bronwyn Robbins.

“Most certainly, at this time in the midst of a pandemic, Australia and Indonesia, including South Sulawesi, have a common interest to work together to respond to and recover from COVID-19,”  Ms Robbins said.

“This partnership will support the efforts of the central government and the South Sulawesi Provincial Government in responding to and recovering from COVID-19 as well as building a more robust and responsive national health security system."

The Consul-General added that the AIHSP is one of many collaborations being carried out between Australia and the South Sulawesi Provincial Government, and she expressed her gratitude for the partnership and cooperation that has taken place to date.

Meanwhile, Acting Governor Sulaiman noted that cases of rabies, anthrax and avian influenza still occur in a number of regions in South Sulawesi.

Through the relevant agencies, his administration continues to take serious steps to combat these diseases, including through prevention and supervision procedures, the animal slaughtering process in abattoirs, and the use of modern technology.

The Acting Governor emphasized that South Sulawesi needed to respond to the opportunities presented by the AIHSP program in order to improve public and regional health security.

“Health security is a challenge for all of us,” he said. “I am very happy with the AIHSP. I very much welcome this program.”

The 9 July meeting attracted a range of AIHSP stakeholders, with the aim of identifying potential areas of collaboration and building commitment to the program’s implementation in the province.

The first phase of the AIHSP program has six fundamental objectives aimed at strengthening: disease surveillance systems; coordination of an integrated information system; laboratory capacity both at public health laboratories and hospitals; the Emergency Operation Centre system; human resources capacity at the national and regional levels; and community engagement in health security.

The program is initially targeting four provinces in Indonesia: Bali, Central Java, South Sulawesi and Yogyakarta. This pilot phase will then be evaluated for implementation in other provinces.