The Evolution and The Policies for the Implementation of Healthy Cities in Indonesia

Healthy Cities is now a global movement with programs running in all continents and regions both in developed and in developing countries, including Indonesia. Long before the formal Healthy Cities concept was known in Indonesia, the Indonesian government through the State Ministry of Environment introduced the Adipura program. Officially, this program does not correlate with Healthy Cities but the aims of both movements are quite similar, particularly in the aspects of green and clean cities. An examination of the two programs, Adipura and Healthy Cities in Indonesia is the focus of a recent publication. Based on a literature review, and in-depth interviews, this chapter explores and examines the evolution of the implementation of Healthy Cities in Indonesia. As Indonesia has been implementing Healthy Cities at a local level, this chapter provides the policy overview to understand policies of Healthy Cities in Indonesia and the program implementation at the local level. This study found that historically the Indonesian government has developed the Adipura program - a hygiene city or a clean and green city, long before the WHO introduced the concept of Healthy Cities. Some elements of the Adipura program are similar to the Healthy Cities. Indonesia started to develop pilot projects in the name of Healthy Cities in late 1998 when the WHO set the theme of the World Health Day in 1996 which was ???Healthy cities for better life???. This was a starting point for the implementation of Healthy Cities in Indonesia. However, at the time the central government had not set up criteria and indicators as to whether a city can be labelled a healthy city until the publication of the joint regulation between the MOHA and the MOH in 2005.This regulation is a guide and a legal umbrella for Healthy Cities implementation across Indonesia and since the enactment of this guide, many cities have developed Healthy Cities programs. The Healthy Cities movement in Indonesia may or may not relevant with other Healthy Cities implementation worldwide and can be a valuable lesson for others.