YHP Indonesia
Location
Four city districts in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta: North Jakarta, South Jakarta, West Jakarta and East Jakarta.
Timing
2021 - 2025
The context
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a major public health challenge in Indonesia. Cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes contribute substantially to mortality, while common risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and exposure to air pollution often begin during adolescence.1 2
Young people in Jakarta face a range of everyday pressures that can shape long-term health behaviours, including exposure to tobacco, limited opportunities for healthy choices, and the need for more youth-friendly health information and services. Building healthy habits during adolescence is critical to reducing future NCD risk.1 2
The Young Health Programme (YHP) Indonesia worked with young people, schools, families, communities, health providers and government stakeholders to support healthier lifestyles and strengthen adolescent health promotion in Jakarta.
Our objectives
To improve the health and wellbeing of young people in Jakarta by:
- Increasing young people’s knowledge and awareness of NCD prevention.
- Strengthening adolescents’ capacity to make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing.
- Promoting healthier behaviours and environments among young people, families and communities.
- Improving access to youth-friendly health information and services.
- Supporting stronger school, community and policy environments that promote adolescent health and NCD prevention.
Our programme
The Programme’s final evaluation showed meaningful improvements in young people’s knowledge, behaviours and access to services.
Young people showed increased understanding of NCD risk factors, including tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diet and air pollution. Healthy behaviours also improved, particularly around physical activity, healthy eating and emotional wellbeing as part of NCD prevention.
The proportion of young people accessing healthcare more than doubled, from 37% at baseline to 82% by the final evaluation. Peer-led monitoring also helped improve the friendliness, safety and quality of health services.
Peer Educators gained confidence and practical skills in leadership, public speaking, advocacy and mentoring. They also engaged in policy dialogues and helped influence school and community health initiatives.
The Programme created a strong foundation for sustainability. Schools and Peer Educators demonstrated the ability to continue activities independently, while the peer educator model contributed to local youth initiatives such as PIK-R, JakStar and GenRe. The programme also supported national-level work to integrate YHP health education modules into school-based curriculum and Ministry of Education platforms.
Our achievements
From 2021 to 2025, the Programme achieved the following:
- Trained and mobilised 1,251 Peer Educators, who reached 100,857 young people through peer education in schools and communities.
- Reached 971 teachers and school staff through training, reflection meetings and school-based engagement.
- Reached 3,422 parents and caregivers through training, meetings and focus group discussions on supporting young people’s healthy lifestyles.
- Mobilised and trained 476 health professionals to strengthen youth-friendly health services and adolescent-responsive care.
- Indirectly reached more than 30 million young people and 20 million adult community members through mass activities, media engagement, social media and online campaigns.
- Engaged 154 Peer Educators from 40 partner schools in reflection and learning sessions to strengthen youth leadership and sustain motivation.
- Supported youth-friendly service improvement through score-carding assessments across 20 Puskesmas community health centres.
Programme impact
The Programme’s final evaluation showed meaningful improvements in young people’s knowledge, behaviours and access to services.
Young people showed increased understanding of NCD risk factors, including tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diet and air pollution. Healthy behaviours also improved, particularly around physical activity, healthy eating and emotional wellbeing as part of NCD prevention.
The proportion of young people accessing healthcare more than doubled, from 37% at baseline to 82% by the final evaluation. Peer-led monitoring also helped improve the friendliness, safety and quality of health services.
Peer Educators gained confidence and practical skills in leadership, public speaking, advocacy and mentoring. They also engaged in policy dialogues and helped influence school and community health initiatives.
The Programme created a strong foundation for sustainability. Schools and Peer Educators demonstrated the ability to continue activities independently, while the peer educator model contributed to local youth initiatives such as PIK-R, JakStar and GenRe. The programme also supported national-level work to integrate YHP health education modules into school-based curriculum and Ministry of Education platforms.
Our partners
Plan International Indonesia is responsible for the overall implementation of the programme and has over 50 years’ experience of working with young people in Indonesia.
Yayasan Lentera Anak is non-governmental organisation working with young people and communities in South Jakarta and Bogor Regency since 2013. They also partnered with Plan International in the 2018-2020 YHP in Indonesia.
References:
- World Health Organization (WHO). Noncommunicable Diseases Country Profile: Indonesia 2018. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/noncommunicable-diseases-idn-country-profile-2018
- World Health Organization (WHO). Tobacco Indonesia 2023 Country Profile. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/tobacco-idn-2023-country-profile