Exploring the Improbable Nation
In the USA, the quality of generic drugs is in the headlines again following a recent report by investigative journalists at ProPublica. They tested a total of 11 samples spread over three active ingredients, and found that two did not meet quality standards. In reporting their results, they gave figures for the amount of active quality surveillance conducted by the Mighty FDA. In a country with…
Makbuk Mubarak's film Autobiography is a brilliant (and beautiful) exploration of Indonesia's addiction to feudalism. But if you substitute class or corporate interests for the role of the Indonesian military, it becomes a univeral tale. The post Universal Autobiography first appeared on Indonesia etc .
This video about fake medicines by schoolboy in Magelang makes me wish he were in charge of public health messaging nationally. The post Indonesian schoolkids: in praise of creativity first appeared on Indonesia etc .
Good Distribution Practice in rural Indonesia. Photo: Elizabeth Pisani Getting medicines to patients across Indonesia s 13,000 islands: what could possibly go wrong? Let s start with an apology for a silence which some of you have been kind enough to point out has been going on muuuuuuch too long. It turns out that pandemics are busy times for people whose day job is in infectious disease…
For months, Indonesia s pray-for-prevention Health Minister and virus-free-vaccation President pretended that the country was shielded by some miraculous force-field from the pandemic that was consuming much of the world. For months, most thinking people in Indonesia and elsewhere have know that was absolute nonsense. The country was able to maintain its claims that it had virtually no…
More long silence from Elizabeth. Sorry. It s not that I haven t been thinking about Indonesia. It s that I ve been focusing on just one thing: the quality of the medicines in the Indonesian market. With wonderful colleagues like Amalia Hasnida, Yusi Anggriani and Sari Dewi, we ve been trying to figure out why people make low quality medicines, and why people sell and take them. It s a complicated…
Jokowi has chosen to move the capital, rather than deal with Jakarta's problems. He is violating at least two of the new site's "10 Cultures of Shame". The post Capital punishment: Jokowi’s shameful move to PPU first appeared on Indonesia etc .
Indonesia always does well in the Department of #YouCouldn tMakeItUp. Exhibit A: this article from the Jakarta Globe about clowns marching for political peace. There s so much about this story that delights me: That Indonesia even has a national clown s association (and one that has almost as many members as the House of Representatives). That the Jakarta police felt the need to deploy 60 police…
2018 started badly for children in Indonesian Papua; though it s a miraculously fertile province, at least 70 children in the Asmat district died of malnutrition in December and January, and measles and other vaccine-preventable infections are running high. We know about this because Kompas, Indonesia s leading paper, sent reporters to Asmat to spotlight the crisis. But in truth, it s probably…
Welcome to 2018, which will doubtless be a year of political speculation ahead of the 2019 presidential elections. I spent New Year s Day kayaking down the Nile. (Off-topic alert: if you re looking for a truly fabulous holiday that combines decent exercise in great landscapes with a good dollop of ancient culture, check out the Nile Kayak Club s trips from Aswan to Luxor.) While paddling, I…