WHEN and the Ministry of Health of Indonesia have agreed to work collaboratively on the development of sustainable financing models to close the gendered gaps in the women’s health and economic systems.
WHEN will work alongside the Ministry of Health to develop technical assistance and equity vehicles aimed at strengthening women’s access to health care and capital, with a focus on rural and vulnerable communities. Specific objectives of the partnership include:
Initial discussions led by WHEN Co-Chairs and His Excellency, Minister Sadikin, focused on the importance of incorporating women’s cancers into funding priorities as a financially sustainable ecosystem is built in Indonesia. Representatives from academia, the private sector, and the Government of Indonesia discussed how to sustainably implement the National Cervical Cancer Elimination Plan for Indonesia, launched in November 2023. The conversation turned to innovative models for cervical cancer control and elimination, including the use of single-dose HPV vaccine regimens, self-collection of HPV tests, and financing for pooled procurement and local manufacturing of women’s cancer care commodities.
A key point of discussion was the USD$4 billion loan that Indonesia is receiving from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to strengthen medical diagnostics in the country. Representatives from diagnostic companies, implementing agencies, and the Ministry of Health discussed key implementation strategies for diagnostics and therapeutics to ensure market success. The group outlined key gaps that persist within the health system and discussed technical and financial solutions to build capacity for women’s health delivery.
WHEN partners committed to working together over the next several months on establishing financial vehicles that address the key gaps and promote a successful diagnostic investment. Following the session, WHEN continued
open dialogue with partners and the Ministry of Health to further refine the structure and deployment of financing vehicles.
At the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, the WHEN Indonesia Working Group reconvened with His Excellency, Minister Sadikin and his colleagues to establish a detailed plan of collaboration between WHEN and the Ministry of Health.
The session refined a strategy for WHEN TA and Equity capital to be deployed alongside the $4 billion IFC investment into medical diagnostics, and diagnostic investment. Following the session, WHEN continued open dialogue with partners and the Ministry of Health to further refine the structure and deployment of financing vehicles and discussed how this influx of capital into the health system can be leveraged by WHEN to implement impactful programmatic initiatives.
A main point of discussion throughout the session was the need to reform primary health care across the country, through the support and training of the 3 million female volunteer community health workers who serve rural areas of the country. WHEN Partners outlined solutions to upskill health workers in technical skills and ensure equitable compensation for their work.
WHEN partners worked collaboratively to design a plan to deploy innovative financing solutions for women health workers and health system resilience in Indonesia, with a focus on rural communities. Partners discussed how to best
deploy solutions to close the financing gaps by leveraging grant, in-kind, concessional, and private equity partners within the WHEN network.
The working group committed to continuing to work collaboratively over the summer, planning a high-level announcement at the 79th UNGA in September.
Since the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings and World Health Assembly, WHEN has been working with its network of partners to design implementation models that can drive women’s health and economic empowerment to the last mile in Indonesia. The models developed leverage technical assistance, concessional, and equity capital to close key gaps related to the health workforce, diagnostics, therapeutics, referral pathways, and digital health.
The proposed WHEN model will establish a Solar-Powered Hub and Spoke Model, which will equip rural clinics with solar energy and the necessary medical infrastructure to deliver women’s health services. Rural clinics will be connected to “WHEN Centers of Excellence” which are equipped with the resources to provide specialized women’s health care in complicated cases.
Centers of Excellence will also serve as training hubs for women health workers, providing them with technical skills to provide women’s health care, as well as business skills to allow them to work as health entrepreneurs at WHEN Solar Clinics within their communities.
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