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ndonesia will launch a campaign on the benefits of traditional herbs as a way to cure and prevent various tropical diseases, an expert said.

Prof. Agus Purwadianto, head of the Health Ministry's research and health development division, said during the recent congress on tropical and infectious diseases here in Kuta that doctors' associations and researchers supported the government plan to revitalize traditional herbs and to include them in standardized health protocols in official community health centers.

"Vaccines are used to prevent diseases but they are quite expensive. Indonesia has abundant traditional herbs that might be used as ingredients for various medicines," he said.

The Health Ministry has established a national commission on herbs. The commission, he said, would work on strategies to promote traditional medicines in Indonesia.

The first start is to conduct comprehensive research and study on herbal medicine. The second step is to establish a colaborative effort between doctors and traditional medicine experts, he said.

Herbs could be an answer to the country's dependence on chemical drugs. He said Indonesia currently faced serious public health problems. The country has been plagued by several health endemics including dengue, tuberculosis and rabies outbreaks, particularly in Bali.

"We need adequate stocks of vaccines and medicines to prevent and to cure existing tropical and infectious diseases," Agus said. "In dealing with the rabies outbreak in Bali, the government needs to allocate huge funds to procure anti-rabies vaccines."

He also admitted that Indonesia would still depend on chemical-based vaccines to fight deadly diseases such as rabies and malaria.

Djoko Widodo, chairman of the Association of Tropical and Infectious Diseases, said Indonesia's pressing health problems including inadequate basic health services. The country's maternal and child mortality rates remain the highest among ASEAN countries. Around 500,000 children are malnourished every year.

"Climate change has worsened the average state of health of the Indonesian people. Climate change also boosts the outbreaks of zoonotic diseases," the professor added.

On the other hand, there are a very few internists and specialists in infectious diseases in Indonesia. "We have to improve the quality of our human resources and to increase the number of specialists to deal with these types of diseases," he said.