Mitigating risks of malaria and other vector-borne diseases in the new capital city of Indonesia

By Henry Surendra, Bimandra A. Djaafara, and Iqbal RF Elyazar for Nature Communications volume 15, Article number: 10575 (2024)

Conclusion

Expected benefits for public health

…Large-scale infrastructure projects need to account for a wide range of priorities, from economic development to conservation, climate mitigation and health. Economic development and expanding infrastructure will increase access to healthcare and socioeconomic status of IKN inhabitants and surrounding populations, with expected benefits for public health. However, there is a need to mitigate potential negative impacts and examine how sustainable development can support varied conservation, economic and health goals in the wider context of global environmental change.

Not the first

IKN is not the first large-scale development globally; other countries have established new capital cities such as Naypyidaw in Myanmar and Brasilia in Brazil. As climate change effects, such as flooding, are main drivers of the movement of the capital city from Jakarta to Kalimantan, other countries will likely face similar challenges and need to develop new cities.

Unique lessons

The development of IKN in a malaria hotspot and corresponding commitments to proactive malaria surveillance and control measures offer unique lessons on how disease control programmes can approach these large-scale infrastructure projects.

Further research required

However, further research is required to develop surveillance systems and policies to mitigate risks of multiple vector-borne and zoonotic diseases from both known and unknown pathogens in areas experiencing extensive environmental change. With the impacts of IKN extending across Borneo, this will require cross-border collaboration and multidisciplinary approaches to monitor health, social and ecological changes. Read the whole article here https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-54891-x and https://www.tempo.co/lingkungan/malaria-pembangunan-ikn-1218859.

In related news:

• Building a new capital city is popular—paying for it is not, Tom Pepinsky
• https://projectmultatuli.org/istana-garuda-populisme-dan-kitsch/