Right to Health: A Buzzword in Health Policy in Indonesia

ABSTRACT

The “right to health” operates as a buzzword in Indonesia to frame health policies as beneficial to citizens. Right to health is equated with access to Western biomedical services. Within the policy on partnership between biomedical and traditional midwives, only the biomedical midwife can fulfill the right to health. The “traditional” midwife is reframed as her assistant. Right to health language hides underlying tensions in relationships between these two categories of midwives by presenting the policy as mutually beneficial. Right to health language is effective in the post-Suharto era as it aligns with other incontestable values, including democracy and modernity.

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KEYWORDS:

• Indonesia
• buzzword
• health policy
• maternal health
• midwives
• right to health

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this paper can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Acknowledgments

I thank the Indonesian Ministry for Research and Technology, RISTEK, for giving me permission to undertake research in Indonesia and Dr. Soenarto Sastrowijoto of the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) for sponsoring my research. The University of Arizona Institutional Review Board provided ethical review and approval. I am indebted to the head of the district health office who encouraged her staff to engage with me. Many thanks also to the people who participated in my research at the district health office, health centers and villages.

Notes

1. Lahanbesar and all personal names are pseudonyms.

2. Pak, short for Bapak meaning Father, is a respectful form of address for an older man.

3. Bu, short for Ibu meaning Mother, is a respectful form of address for an older woman.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology (BARA) at the University of Arizona, USA.

Notes on contributors

Priscilla Magrath

Priscilla Magrath has researched Indonesian health policy and practice since 1999, focusing on how global health policies are translated in local settings. She has conducted independent research and worked with the World Bank and USAID on policies for decentralization, maternal health, health insurance, and water, sanitation and hygiene.