UN Development Programme

The issue

Covid-19 cases in Indonesia have spread rapidly. The president declared the pandemic as a national disaster in the country on 13 April 2020, with a government task force established immediately to control the situation at national, provincial and district levels, and a country-wide response plan put into place. 

The virus continues to have a significant impact on public health – particularly on Java and Bali, where large-scale social restrictions have been in place at various times since early 2021. Millions of men and women have and may continue to lose their jobs, livelihoods, and access to public services when they need them most.

As in many other countries, the pandemic has the potential to overwhelm the capacity of the healthcare system in Indonesia. The emergence of the Delta variant of Covid-19 in 2021 resulted in the number of Covid-19 cases experiencing a spike in recent times. Hospitals have been filled with Covid-19 patients, causing waiting lists more widely.

Around five percent of people infected with Covid-19 become critical and require intensive care. For these patients, the disease can progress to the extent that within two to three days, they develop acute respiratory distress syndrome. In critically ill patients, this can be fatal.

In line with these issues, the need for oxygen supply soared in Indonesia, as the number of Covid-19 patients with critical symptoms and low oxygen saturation is increasing. This caused some areas to experience a shortage of oxygen cylinder supplies – a problem exacerbated by difficulties with oxygen production capacity and distribution. 

To demonstrate the scale of the need, Ridwan Kamil, the Governor of West Java said 362-tonnes of medical oxygen were needed per day in July 2021. That demand is projected to increase six-fold by the end of 2022. 

United Nations Development Programme, Indonesia

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) exists to serve Indonesia and its people by supporting Indonesia's national priorities and the implementation of the government of Indonesia's Medium Term Development Plan 2020-2024.

UNDP works to support Indonesia's fight against poverty, promote inclusive economic growth, reduce inequalities between groups and regions, and help achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 across the country.

UNDP believes that the people of Indonesia should have ownership over the programmes and projects they support. Their programmes actively promote the spirit of mutual respect, support and accountability and subscribe to the principle of national ownership as enshrined in the Jakarta Commitment – a declaration put forward by the government and its development partners in 2009 to strengthen aid effectiveness in Indonesia. 

To achieve its goals, UNDP relies entirely on voluntary contributions from UN Member States, multilateral organizations, private sector and other sources to fund the resources required for core operations and specific themes, programmes and projects.

Find out more about the United Nations Development Programme’s work in Indonesia on their website

The project

Croda Foundation has awarded a grant of £114,570 to the United Nations Development Programme, Indonesia for a project supporting Covid-19 patients in West Java province.

Maintaining the resilience of health services is one of the crucial Covid-19 response actions in Indonesia. UNDP continues to provide support for the Indonesian Ministry Of Health and other key stakeholders to address the needs of the healthcare system. 

Anticipating the future demands put on the health service in West Java by the pandemic, this project will provide 525 tanks of medical oxygen for hospitals – saving lives in the process. The project will specifically support government-recommended hospitals in districts and cities identified as having a high number of Covid-19 patients, there are 11 in total. As well as supplying medical oxygen, the project is also offering technical assistance to the West Java Provincial Health Office.

The oxygen supplied is enough to treat more than 105,000 patients, with a 50/50 split expected between men and women. By supporting these people back to health, the wider impact of the project is expected to improve more than 425,000 lives, – once the families supported by caregivers who have been admitted to hospital are taken into account.

The oxygen provided by this project will use high quality materials with standardised specification of medical equipment, to enable the oxygen to be deployed as easily as possible, where it’s needed. Taking this approach is user-friendly for the local health services administering the project on the ground, and minimises maintenance costs for recipients in the future.

Impact

11 hospitals in the West Java Province will be supplied with 525 tanks of medical oxygen