Health Sector Decentralization and Indonesia's Nutrition Programs: Opportunities and Challenges

This policy concept paper is intended to assist the center in navigating the tension between opportunities and challenges as activities are adapted to the decentralized national nutrition policy, and to help guide districts and provinces in the conduct of locally appropriate nutrition programs. The paper synthesizes the findings of an extensive study undertaken by the World Bank with a summary of the results, while the conclusions are discussed in detail in the four annexes. It begins with a review of the accomplishments and remaining nutrition challenges for Indonesia. It then turns to look at the regional diversity in Indonesia's nutrition challenges and asks which type of nutrition programs are most cost-effective. The paper concludes with an assessment of the existing institutional arrangement for nutrition service delivery, and discusses steps Indonesia can take to further improve population nutrition and health. The annexes provide extensive data and analysis to shed light on the opportunities and challenges in the new institutional environment.