Dewi Nur Aisyah, Technical Advisor for Primary Healthcare at DTO Ministry of Health, Indonesia

1. How do you use technology/policy to improve citizens’ lives? Tell us about your role or organisation. 

I have been appointed by the Minister of Health as health informatics expert and Technical Advisor for Primary Healthcare at Digital Transformation Office (DTO), Ministry of Health. I have a pivotal role to lead the digital transformation in primary health care services across Indonesia, simplifying and bringing an integrated information system for more than 10,000 Public Health Centreser (Puskesmas) and 514 districts/cities health offices, providing easier and convenient access and services for 270 million people of Indonesia.  

With my position at Primary Healthcare at DTO MoH, I have designed and overseen multi-faceted health programs on digital health transformation including maternal and child health, immunisation, non-communicable diseases, health screening for adolescents and school age group, infectious diseases as well as other primary healthcare aspects.  

I lead the primary healthcare digital transformation to simplify more than 30 health information systems in Puskesmas, developing an integrated digital reporting system for community outreach activity through ASIK (Aplikasi Sehat IndonesiaKu) - which is is part of SATUSEHAT ecosystem - and increasing community awareness by sending notifications of health screening results and reminders through WhatsApp. 

ASIK is the first mobile application designed for health workers and community health workers in Indonesia, enabling the recording of individual-based healthcare services as part of community outreach activities of primary healthcare.  

Since it was launched in May 2022, ASIK has evolved into a comprehensive platform capturing health services data such as routine immunisation, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) screening, child growth monitoring, health services for pregnant women, and school-age and adolescent health services. 

Available on both Android and iOS, ASIK enables near real-time data collection accessible by Puskesmas, District and Provincial Health Offices, and other stakeholders through an integrated dashboard. With over 400 million services recorded across 10,318 Puskesmas, ASIK has transformed health services data recording and reporting from manual into digital format, empowering health workers to effectively monitor and analyse healthcare services across all life stages. 

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2. What was the most impactful project you worked on this year? 

I designed and established the first Indonesian Electronic Immunisation Registry (EIR), collecting more than 200 million individual immunisation records within 12 months of implementation. More than 3 million WhatsApp messages have been sent to the parents for notifying them of the immunisation schedule forof their children. The immunisation digital certificate can also be accessed through SATUSEHAT mobile.  

The initiative and its accelerated progress have been acknowledged at the Global Meeting on Monitoring Immunisation in the Context of IA2030 in WHO Headquarters, Geneva, September 2023; becoming an example of how end-to-end immunisation data integration and digitalisation can be carried out in developing countries.

Through the Linked Immunisation Action Network, my work was presented in front of different stakeholders from Bhutan, Ghuyana, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan in July 2024.

3. What was one unexpected learning from 2024? 

One of the valuable lessons I learned in 2024 is how we can accelerate the digital health transformation by strengthening coordination, collaboration and communication across programs, across ministries, and across sectors.

We also need to strengthen infrastructure that is evenly distributed throughout Indonesia and strengthen the capacity of health workers to be able to adopt and implement health technology. 

4. What’s a tool or technique you’re excited to explore in 2025?    

I want to learn how cross-sectoral data between human health data, animal health data and environmental health data can be integrated and utilized optimally to improve the community health in Indonesia.

5. Everybody’s talking about AI today – give us your hot take on AI and what it means for the public sector.   

The presence of AI provides numerous conveniences for community life. In the health sector, we have also started using AI technology to assist model data processing, including the development of prediction scores for diabetes mellitus and stunting. We also plan to implement generative AI to facilitate interaction between the community and health services providers via WhatsApp chatbot. 

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6. What are your priorities for 2025?  

In 2025, we are aiming to be able to fully implement digital health transformation for healthcare services provided to pregnant women, children under five, school-age groups and adults and the elderly. It includes digital technology for mental health, occupational health, reproductive health, and geriatrics. We will also start working on simplifying various HIS in infectious diseases, including vaccine preventable disease, vector borne diseases, TB, STDs, etc.

7. What advice do you have for public sector innovators? 

My suggestion is to keep innovating and be able to further increase the collaboration, coordination and good communication to jointly achieve the goal of the highest benefit for the Indonesian people.

8. Who inspires you today?   

One of my biggest sources of inspiration is my parents. They have a very high compassion for knowledge and support their children to be able to learn to the highest degree and create impact for the community. 

This feature was made possible in partnership with Pusdatin-DTO Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia