On 11–14 February 2025 the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office for Indonesia and the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia co-hosted the Indonesia and Timor-Leste Joint Capacity Building Workshop on Malaria and Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination and Cross-border Collaboration in Timor Island. The aim of the workshop, held in Kupang, Indonesia, was to increase cross-border collaboration and technical capacity among key health workers in both countries, ensuring vulnerable communities are better protected and elimination targets are achieved and maintained.
Globally, malaria remains a major health challenge. In 2023 there were an estimated 263 million cases and 597 000 deaths worldwide. The WHO South-East Asia Region accounted for about 1.5% of the global burden, with an estimated 4 million malaria cases and 6000 malaria deaths. In the same year, lymphatic filariasis (LF), a neglected tropical disease, affected 657 million people, requiring preventive chemotherapy across 39 countries. This is down from 1.4 billion in 2000 due to mass drug administration (MDA) efforts.
In 2023 Indonesia reported 418 546 malaria cases, primarily in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and other eastern provinces, including Papua, where 93% of incidence occurred. Since 2021, Timor-Leste has reported zero indigenous malaria cases and in 2024 it was validated by WHO for having eliminated LF as a public health problem. In 2023 Indonesia reported a cumulative 7955 LF cases, with 68 endemic districts continuing to conduct MDA activities. Of these, 45 await verification to stop MDA.
WHO/Achmad Naufal Azhari
The four-day workshop convened 33 participants – 15 from Indonesia and 18 from Timor-Leste – including Ministry of Health (MoH) staff, district and provincial health officers from Indonesia’s NTT and Papua regions, laboratory personnel and programme managers. It opened with a review of elimination efforts, and then moved on to training in surveillance, vector monitoring and case management. Of specific focus was building skills to address local challenges such as limited health care access and border-related transmission risks.
“The success of our malaria and LF elimination programmes depends not only on strong national efforts but also on collaboration between our countries, with the support of partners like WHO,” said Dr Ina Agustina Isturini, Director, Communicable Disease Prevention and Control, MoH Indonesia.
By the end of the workshop, participants had developed a series of actionable recommendations, which for both countries included enhancing surveillance, ensuring immediate notification and timely response, strengthening communication and data sharing, and improving vector control. Throughout the workshop, WHO played a crucial role in facilitating discussions, providing technical expertise and ensuring alignment with the global elimination targets: By 2030, reducing malaria incidence by 90%, based on 2015 levels, and eliminating LF as a public health problem.
WHO/Achmad Naufal Azhari
“South-South cooperation can be a gamechanger in disease elimination, especially when it involves countries that share a border, and with it the risk of cross-border transmission,” said Dr Momoe Takeuchi, WHO Deputy Representative to Indonesia. “Together, Indonesia and Timor-Leste have a tremendous opportunity to turn these shared challenges into lasting victories.”
By 2030, Indonesia aims to achieve malaria-free certification, in alignment with the global target, and to eliminate LF as a public health problem, as per the “WHO road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030”. In 2025 Timor-Leste aims to obtain WHO malaria-free certification and to sustain elimination of LF as a public health problem. WHO will continue to support both countries’ efforts, for a healthier, malaria- and LF-free future for Timor Island and beyond.
Written by Ajib Diptyanusa, National Consultant for Malaria and Vector-borne Diseases, WHO Indonesia, and Agrin Zauyani Putri, National Consultant for Neglected Tropical Diseases, WHO Indonesia