Project news 11 : The 2nd Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) meeting and JICA mission visit to Indonesia

On February 2, 2024, the second JCC meeting for the JICA EWARS project was held at the Indonesian Ministry of Health (the first JCC meeting was held in December 2022).

The second JCC meeting reviewed the progress of activities in 2023, including domestic and overseas trainings in Indonesia and Japan and the development of teaching materials, and shared information on activities for the following year.

Prior to the JCC meeting, the project members in Japan and Indonesia discussed the revision of the Project Design Matrix (PDM), which includes launching new activities, such as the development of an online training program for Puskesmas (community health centers) surveillance personnel, the development of a standard operating procedure for Rapid Risk Assessment (RRA) fitted with the country context, and EWARS evaluation activities at the subnational level. The revised PDM with those activities was proposed and approved at the JCC meeting.

Meanwhile, a consultation mission from JICA headquarters visited Indonesia to participate in the final adjustment of the proposal for the PDM revisions. During their stay in Indonesia, the mission visited Lebak and Tangerang District Health Offices and Puskesmas, which have been involved in EWARS activities in Banten Province, to monitor the results of training supported by the project and the usage of the flipchart materials developed by the project. Then, in consultation with members of the surveillance working team of the Ministry of Health, they prepared a draft revision of the PDM and prepared for the JCC meeting.

The JCC was chaired by Dr. Maxi Rein Rondonuwu (Director General of the Disease Prevention and Control, Ministry of Health, Indonesia). Dr. Achmad Farchanny Tri Adrianto (Director of Surveillance and Health Isolation), Dr. Triya Novita Dinihari (Director of Surveillance Working Team), and other MOH officers attended the meeting in person, with representatives from the three project provinces online. The Japanese side consisted of Yusuke Nakao (Secretary for Health Affairs, the embassy of Japan), Emiko Nishimura (Director for Global Health Team) and Sonoko Takahashi (Deputy Director for Global Health Team) from JICA Headquarters, Hanako Kawamoto, Widya, and project experts from JICA Indonesia, and others.

The EWARS project welcomed Dr. Motoyuki Tsuboi (Chief Advisor of the EWARS project) in October 2023 and Dr. Shingo Nishiki (Expert for Surveillance) in January 2024, which means the completion of deployment of all long-term experts. Therefore, project activities are expected to become more active in the future.