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2024 state health spending to focus on stunting, service expansion
In his annual State of the Nation address on Wednesday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced a plan to allocate 5.6 percent of the 2024 state budget to the health sector, some Rp 186.4 trillion (US$12 billion).
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Medical personnel weigh a baby at an integrated health post (Posyandu) in Bengkulu on Aug. 10, 2023. The government aims to reduce the national stunting rate to 14 percent in 2024 from this year's figure of 21 percent. (Antara/Muhammad Izfaldi)
T
he government has proposed spending much of the 2024 state healthcare budget on preventing stunting and expanding access to health services, as the country moves on from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his annual State of the Nation address on Wednesday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced a plan to allocate 5.6 percent of the 2024 state budget to the health sector, some Rp 186.4 trillion (US$12 billion).
Next year’s state budget is the first to be formulated after the end of the national COVID-19 emergency status in June. Jokowi announced at the time that the country would begin treating the virus as an endemic disease and that the government would no longer foot the bill for COVID-19 treatment.
The 2024 healthcare budget is lower than in 2021 and 2022, when the COVID-19 crisis was at its height. The state spent Rp 312.4 trillion on health care in 2021, 60 percent of which was for COVID-19 mitigation.
Jokowi claimed in the address that the country had successfully tackled the challenges posed by the COVID-19. At least 161,000 Indonesians died of COVID-19, according to government data, although many estimates place the actual death toll higher than the official reports.
“Indonesia is one of the countries that have successfully handled the health crisis rapidly and properly,” the President asserted.
Read also: Govt relies on inner strength amid external risks with 2024 budget
