Voices from the field: In Papua, health workers and communities mobilize against malaria

Photo: WHO/Rosa Panggabean. Priskila. Retrieved from who.int

In Papua Region, eastern Indonesia, local health workers and communities are accelerating action to prevent, detect and treat malaria, in alignment with Indonesia’s updated National Action Plan on Acceleration of Malaria Elimination 2020–2024 and its 2025–2026 bridging plan.

Based on a recent Ministry of Health report, as many as 81% of all malaria cases in Indonesia come from just nine districts and cities in Papua, highlighting the urgent need for accelerated, comprehensive and sustained action, with communities leading the way.

From community clinics to remote islands, and from medicines and larval control to bed nets, each image in this story highlights the resilience, innovation and perseverance at the heart of Papua’s quest to become malaria-free, joining 389 malaria-free districts country-wide.