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View all search resultsMeasles, polio return as govt struggles with uneven coverage, incomplete immunization
Uneven vaccine coverage and incomplete immunization are among the key factors that have contributed to the return of measles, experts say, while the Health Ministry has recorded around 3,500 cases in at least 42 regions this year to date.
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A health worker checks a measles pediatric patient on Aug. 27, 2025, at the Puskesmas (community health center) in Pragaan district, Sumenep regency, East Java. According to the Health Ministry, Sumenep leads the 42 regions that recorded nearly 3,500 confirmed cases of measles nationwide between January and the third week of August, with over 2,000 cases including 20 deaths. (Antara/Rizal Hanafi)
T
he resurgence of diseases that were once controlled has exposed a weakness in the government’s preventive health policy, experts say, following measles outbreaks in multiple regions over the past eight months.
Incidences of measles, a highly contagious viral disease that was previously under control until 2021, have totaled nearly 3,500 confirmed cases nationwide since January across at least 42 regions, including Jakarta, Banten and East Java’s Sumenep regency.
In Sumenep alone, 20 unvaccinated children have died of measles this year, according to the Health Ministry.
The series of outbreaks followed public alarm over the July 22 death of Raya, 4, in West Java, after doctors retrieved live roundworms from her body. Though sepsis was later determined to be the cause of the girl’s death, her case reignited concerns over parasitic infections, a long-standing problem related to hygiene that the government has sought to address through a mass deworming campaign.
Polio, which the World Health Organization declared was eliminated in Indonesia in 2014, also reemerged last year, when cases were detected in Central Java, East Java and Yogyakarta.
Read also: Jakarta scales up vaccination as measles cases surge
Piprim Basarah Yanuarso, head of the Indonesian Pediatric Society (IDAI), said the resurgence of measles and polio, both vaccine-preventable diseases, was partly driven by the sharp decline in immunization coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which had weakened herd immunity.
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