On 28–30 April 2025 Indonesia’s Ministry of Health (MoH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) convened a national workshop in Semarang, Central Java, to review implementation of multisource collaborative surveillance (MSCS) for dengue, an acute and increasing national and global health threat.
The workshop marked the final step of WHO’s six-part MSCS framework, making Indonesia the first country in the WHO South-East Asia Region to complete the full MSCS cycle for dengue. MSCS is a systematic approach that brings together data from diverse sectors – health, climate, entomology and disaster management – to build a more complete picture of public health threats and to guide faster, more effective decision-making.
By mid-2024, dengue had surged to nearly 150 000 cases and 884 deaths across Indonesia. Central Java was among the most affected provinces, recording 17 636 cases and 144 deaths for the year. MoH selected Central Java in April 2024 to pilot MSCS, working with WHO and partners to map surveillance systems, identify gaps and define surveillance objectives, and align and implement priorities.
The April 2025 review brought together 39 participants from national, provincial and district health offices, key government agencies – such as the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency, the Provincial Disaster Management Agency, and the National Research and Innovation Agency – and academic institutions, including the Institute of Technology Bandung, Diponegoro University and the National University of Singapore.
Credit: Agrin Zauyani Putri/WHO Indonesia
Together, they reviewed implementation of the 2024 MSCS action plan and shared progress on integrating climate, entomological and health data. They examined correlations in dengue case trends, weather patterns and vector surveillance to identify risk signals and opportunities for early intervention. And they noted that provincial health office data show a decrease in cases from January to April 2025 compared to the same period the previous year, highlighting both the ongoing risk of dengue and the effectiveness of early warning systems.
“Dengue is a climate-sensitive disease that demands joint action,” said Dr Irma Makiah, Head of Disease Control, Central Java Provincial Health Office. “Through MSCS, we’ve built stronger links across sectors, improved how we interpret data and taken a more targeted approach to prevention. The early numbers for dengue cases in 2025 are encouraging.”
Insights for action
The workshop produced a revised action plan prioritizing several strategies: forming a multisectoral team to coordinate data analysis and policy; developing dengue risk maps using health, climate and vector data for faster response; strengthening community surveillance in high-risk districts; and creating an integrated platform for seamless cross-sector data sharing and use.
“MSCS strengthens multisectoral collaboration, sharpens data analysis and helps translates insights into action,” said Dr. Sumarjaya, SKM, MM, MFP, C.F.A, Director of Surveillance and Health Quarantine, MoH. “It represents a breakthrough approach to dengue prevention, preparedness and response, which we look forward to expanding.”
WHO provided MoH technical guidance throughout the MSCS process, with funding from the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin, Germany. The initiative will continue to feed into broader regional efforts such as the Asia Pacific Health Security Action Framework and will help implement the WHO Health Emergency Preparedness, Response and Resilience framework.
“Indonesia’s rollout of MSCS shows what’s possible when sectors work together and data drives action,” said Tamara Curtin Niemi, Team Lead for Health Emergencies, WHO Indonesia. “This model is helping Indonesia shift from reacting to outbreaks to anticipating them – and it can be applied far beyond dengue.”
In Central Java and across Indonesia, WHO will continue to support efforts to scale and strengthen MSCS as a model for smarter, faster and more coordinated outbreak response.
Written by Endang Widuri Wulandari, National Professional Officer (Epidemiologist), WHO Indonesia