Improving South Sulawesi young people’s health and wellbeing

Agriculture is a key element of South Sulawesi’s economic and social profile.

It provides work and contributes to national income, but also faces many challenges (Ramadanti, April 2020). The province is a key source of rice for eastern Indonesia (The Jakarta Post, 23 March 2016). The people working as farmers and their families face a set of challenges that are different to the urban populations and need to be analysed in context.

This project investigates factors influencing the health and socio-economic wellbeing of people from farming communities in three rural districts of South Sulawesi — Maros, Pangkep and Barru and uses the knowledge to improve people’s health and wellbeing. The three districts have large agricultural or aquacultural communities, with many people earning a living as rice or seaweed farmers.

Click here to read the full report, Improving South Sulawesi young people’s health and wellbeing

Our research has led us to make recommendations to policymakers:

• Governments need to strengthen capacity, training and funding for Puskesmas healthcare workers to enable them to provide quality services for people with disabilities and those facing mental health issues.
• Governments should continue to use the Dana Desa program to improve health worker capacity and training and to alleviate poverty more generally.
• That effort should be directed towards reducing the prevailing stigma and lack of awareness surrounding mental health issues.

Feature image by PAIR.