KOICA and WHO Collaborate to Train COVID-19 Emergency Response Personnel in Indonesia

Establishment of Control Centers within Local Governments, Infection Tracking Technology Training for Medical Staff, and Conducting Epidemiological Investigations

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] KOICA held a signing ceremony on the 4th (local time) in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, to sign a joint cooperation agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) Indonesia Office for the ‘COVID-19 Infection Surveillance and Emergency Response Capacity Building Project.’

This project was planned as part of KOICA’s comprehensive COVID-19 emergency support program and WHO’s COVID-19 response plan, resulting from linking the on-site COVID-19 support strategies and common interests of both organizations.

Indonesia is the country with the highest number of COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia, with a cumulative confirmed case count reaching approximately 180,000. The Indonesian government is implementing nationwide large-scale social distancing and conducting a full-scale government response, but the spread is rapidly increasing, with more than 2,000 new confirmed cases occurring daily just this month.

So far, the Indonesian government has been focusing all efforts on establishing a proactive surveillance and response system to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, it faces an urgent challenge of securing personnel necessary for national emergency response within a short period. In particular, the seriousness of poor data management has been highlighted, and there is an absolute shortage of infectious disease response experts.

Accordingly, KOICA and WHO planned a capacity-building project focusing on the areas with the highest demand for COVID-19 response personnel in Indonesia: ‘infection tracing, surveillance, and emergency response.’ KOICA will conduct a short-term intensive capacity-building program for COVID-19 emergency response teams, public hospital medical staff, university researchers, and policymakers over about 10 months until June next year, with a budget of 500,000 USD (approximately 600 million KRW). The support scope will be expanded in the future, focusing on healthcare institutions, central and local governments, and immigration facilities nationwide in Indonesia.

Specifically, six capacity-building activities will be conducted: △ training on COVID-19 infection route tracing techniques and surveillance systems △ establishment of local government COVID-19 control and prevention centers △ seroepidemiological research surveys and data sharing △ provision of pathological and scientific policy consulting to the Ministry of Health △ introduction of infection tracing digital tools (GoData) △ seroepidemiological research.

Various training materials and research results will be continuously shared with government ministries, healthcare institutions, and university research institutes through the WHO information disclosure system.

The signing ceremony was replaced by a written procedure to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Jeong Hoe-jin, head of the KOICA Indonesia Office, said, “We are conducting a professional workforce training project to overcome the difficulties faced by the Indonesian people aggravated by COVID-19,” adding, “KOICA is participating in Indonesia’s COVID-19 overcoming efforts by delivering medical and quarantine equipment to major regional hospitals and supporting vulnerable groups.”

Meanwhile, the KOICA Indonesia Office has invested a total of 6 billion KRW since the COVID-19 outbreak to carry out a comprehensive local COVID-19 emergency support program, focusing on strengthening the capacity of local COVID-19 response medical and health personnel and supporting vulnerable groups.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.