Health Cluster
A healthcare worker prepare injections of measles vaccine at SD Inpres Inti Lebo, Parigi Moutong District, Central Sulawesi.
Global Health Cluster System Implementation in Indonesia
Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. Given its geographic positioning on the 'ring of fire', Indonesia is susceptible to a range of natural disasters including floods, landslides, tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquakes.
Given Indonesia's susceptibility to natural disasters, it is imperative that the humanitarian agencies in the country are able to respond in an effective and timely manner when emergencies occur. In 2014, the Government of Indonesia adopted the UN cluster approach to improve the quality of collaborative disaster response through eight key clusters: Health, Education, IDP and Protection, Infrastructure, Early Recovery, Economy, Logistic, SAR.
The overarching goal of the Health Cluster response plan is to save lives and promote the well-being of people affected (or likely to be affected) by a disaster. Particular attention is given to vulnerable populations, especially children, women and people with disabilities. The Health Cluster approach aims to increase preparedness and reduce excess morbidity and mortality in the affected population while protecting the rights of people in emergency affected areas.
The goals of the Health Cluster are to:
- Ensure a set of agreed standard tools is used for an initial rapid assessment;
- Ensure access to basic health care including reproductive health to the affected population;
- Ensure appropriate coordination with national and local authorities and between health humanitarian partners;
- Strengthen the capacity and the capabilities of the public health system to monitor, prevent and respond to outbreaks of communicable diseases during an emergency response.