The Indonesian Ministry of Health (MoH) is accelerating efforts to strengthen health workforce governance and improve global monitoring of universal health coverage (UHC) and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3. This is reflected in its timely submission of National Health Workforce Account (NHWA) and National Reporting Instrument (NRI) data to the World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2024. These submissions provide critical insights into health workforce distribution, competency and ethical recruitment practices, paving the way for improved health care access and quality of care in Indonesia and across the world.
The NHWA is a system by which countries progressively improve the availability, quality and use of health workforce data through monitoring standardized indicators. The NRI is a WHO-developed self-assessment tool that monitors implementation of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel. For the NHWA, WHO helped MoH collect and validate data, ensuring accuracy for 2023 indicators. For the NRI, WHO refined reporting variables and conducted a series of validation meetings in Jakarta in November and December 2024.
Professor Efendy and the MoH team review Indonesia’s progress on implementing the WHO Global Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health Personnel as part of the NRI data validation process. (MoH/Lita Dwi Astari)
Reliable health workforce data enables health administrators to make smarter decisions, such as deploying health workers where they’re scarce, enhancing training and improving overall quality of care. This is critical for achieving UHC and ensuring every community has access to quality health care, as per Indonesia’s Health Transformation Agenda, its Medium-Term Development Plan 2025–2029 (RPJMN) and SDG 3.8: By 2030, achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
“The data submission marks a significant step towards stronger health workforce governance,” said Anna Kurniati, Director of Human Resources for Health Provision and Designated National Authority for the NRI submission, MoH. “By leveraging these data systems, we can address workforce challenges more effectively.”
Indonesia’s NHWA data show an increasing trend in the aggregate density of doctors, nurses and midwives, from 43.1 per 10 000 population in 2019 to 54.2 per 10 000 population in 2023. This is well above the SDG indicative threshold of 45.5 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10 000 population, set for countries of all income levels.
Concurrently, NRI data show that between 2022 and 2024, the number of nurses Indonesia deployed abroad annually rose from 958 to 1091, with most nurses emigrating to Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Indonesia has established bilateral agreements with each of these countries, and continues to prioritize its domestic health workforce, in alignment with the WHO Global Code of Practice.
“Indonesia’s proactive collection and reporting of NHWA and NRI data sets a powerful example that is reflected in the positive trends we are seeing,” said Professor Roderick Salenga, Team Lead for Health Systems at WHO Indonesia. “With better data, together we’re building a stronger health workforce – and a healthier future for all. WHO remains committed to supporting Indonesia’s journey, ensuring data drives progress toward a more equitable, health-secure nation.”
WHO will support Indonesia to submit both datasets in 2025 and beyond, while assisting MoH to fully implement WHO’s “Global strategy on human resources for health: Workforce 2030”. Together, these and other activities will ensure Indonesia continues to build an adequate, well-distributed and qualified health workforce, and achieves both national and international targets.
Written by Zakiyah, National Professional Officer (Health Workforce), WHO Indonesia