Jakarta, 7 April 2026 – On World Health Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights Indonesia’s progress in reducing health risks from zoonotic diseases through a strengthened One Health approach. One Health recognizes that the health of people, animals and the environment are closely connected and must be addressed together.
Led by the Government of Indonesia and supported by WHO and partners, the country has expanded joint prevention, surveillance and response efforts across sectors.
“Indonesia is demonstrating how coordinated, multisectoral action can reduce everyday risks from zoonotic diseases,” said Dr N. Paranietharan, WHO Representative to Indonesia. “By working across health, agriculture, veterinary and environmental sectors, Indonesia is strengthening early detection, improving response and protecting communities that face the highest exposure.”
Zoonotic diseases, or zoonoses, are infections that can spread between animals and people, often through close contact or contaminated environments. Globally, more than 60 percent of known infectious diseases and up to 75 percent of emerging diseases comes from animals. These zoonotic diseases affect more than 2 billion people and claim over 2 million lives each year. As the world’s largest archipelago, Indonesia faces heightened zoonotic risks linked to climate related disasters, environmental change and close interaction between people, animals and nature.
Indonesia’s One Health efforts focus on priority zoonotic diseases such as avian influenza, leptospirosis, anthrax and rabies. In 2025, WHO supported the piloting of integrated One Health avian influenza surveillance in five priority provinces, with traditional poultry markets serving as critical early warning sites. For leptospirosis, improved integrated surveillance, joint risk assessment, early detection, prompt treatment and community awareness have helped multisectoral collaboration, strengthen health system readiness and reduce deaths in flood prone areas. To reduce the impact of anthrax, WHO supported the training of health front liners and monitoring acute events. Meanwhile for rabies, WHO continues to support surveillance, case management, community empowerment and reinforcing cross sector collaboration.
Indonesia’s experience reflects a higher regional and global attention towards One Health, as countries confront the growing health impacts of climate change, environmental disruption and emerging diseases. These shared challenges highlight the need for science based collaboration that connects local action with regional and global solutions.
The government of Indonesia continues to lead in advancing One Health in ASEAN and beyond. This commitment will be highlighted at the One Health Summit, which will bring together heads of state and ministers to drive high-level political support and translate commitments into coordinated action to protect health for all.
This is followed by the Global Forum of WHO Collaborating Centres that emphasizes the importance of sustained investments and partnerships on science and medicine as a whole. The Forum celebrates WHO’s global network of more than 800 Collaborating Centres, including two in Indonesia for nursing and midwifery and prevention of deafness and hearing impairment. These institutions carry out critical research and activities that help lead to lifesaving scientific discoveries, support countries to detect disease outbreaks earlier, strengthen laboratory systems, improve food safety and build a more prepared health workforce.