I

t has become proof of the truth, if not a premonition, that Indonesia'€™s economic development will bear fruit in the
coming years.

Economic growth has been stable at around 6 percent annually over the last decade, with a relatively strong foundation despite the recent global recession. Our gross national income (GNI) per capita will double to US$9,000 in the next 15 years, strengthening our position within the G20.

Indonesia is a fast emerging economy while its democracy continues to mature. And yet, I am not impressed with the way people use the aforementioned macro indicators to see how well we are developing as a country, instead looking deeper to the micro level.

We should be proud of this fast growth, when Indonesia builds more shopping malls than public parks. We should cherish when our industries grow, while deforestation is widespread at an unbelievable rate. We should embrace our growing capacity by buying more motorcycles and cars, and consuming more fuel than ever, as we don'€™t need public transportation, which is an indicator of the weak and the poor.

We should be happy when we are able to equip our kids with gadgets and tablets while we let their physical activities decline. We should be proud of the success of modernization in our country with our staggering fast food consumption level, while we continue to store the excess calories in our bellies. And we must cheer the government'€™s '€œconsistency'€ on health expenditure, yet we continue to witness the increasing number of smokers.

A study by Roemling in 2012, in attempt to analyze the prevalence of obesity in Indonesia, using three different Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) panel data (1993, 2000, 2007), reported that in 1993 the female pre-obese level was 22.33 percent while the female obese level was 9.67 percent.

For males, the prevalence was way less than it was within the female group. It was also reported that in 1993, the male pre-obese level was 16.79 percent while 4.05 percent were classified as obese. It means that the population mean of body mass index has continued to increase.

Roemling is not alone. The World Health Organization (WHO) report on non-communicable disease (NCD) in 2011 showed that the myth of the double burden of health '€” communicable/infectious disease and poverty '€” had changed.

The age of infectious disease that dominated the causes of national mortality has diminished. The report stated that 62 percent of deaths in Indonesia resulted from NCD that were preventable.

Other behavioral risk factors to NCD in Indonesia are interesting to see, aside from obesity. The population'€™s systolic blood pressure has consistently climbed since 1980. Statistically speaking, females continue to possess higher body mass index than males, and the mean of total cholesterol within females is also higher.

WHO also estimates that 30 percent of Indonesians are physically inactive.

To be honest, the government'€™s policy focus and orientation is heavy on curative, but health financing reform, which will take effect next year, will change the national health system toward prevention, as in the future the government will be responsible for individual healthcare spending.

But to be bold, the matter of population health should not be laid on the shoulders of the Health Ministry.

When Prof. Michael Marmot from University of College London argued: '€œEvery ministry is a health ministry,'€ he made his point clear from a bulk of evidence. His recent WHO report on the social determinants of health found, for example, a correlation between the availability of healthy public transportation, which encouraged more physical movement, and the availability of healthy food to the population'€™s well-being.

While we learn so much from other countries about advanced democracy, we should also learn from their mistakes. The fact that the US and Europe, for example, struggle to contain their health expenditure because of NCD-related care, or for example, determine to ban unhealthy food from circulating, must also become a central discourse in Indonesia.

It does not mean that we underestimate the impacts of economic growth, but we certainly don'€™t want to repeat the same mistakes.

Our celebration of democratization should consider health as essential in order for democracy to function. Health is a pre-requisite for individuals to be capable of pursuing and fulfilling our nation'€™s dreams. Without health, education is useless.

Our failure to observe other sectors'€™ impacts on the population'€™s health means health has never been a priority, or it is merely the inability of the government to foresee.

The writer is an alumnus of Gadjah Mada University'€™s School of Medicine and a policy analyst at the Wiratama Institute.