In rural Indonesia, sexually transmitted infections spread silently. No testing, no education, no access to care. Untreated infections lead to infertility, neonatal complications, and chronic disease. Prevention, early diagnosis, and community training are not optional. They are urgent.

Health systems cannot function without roads, water, electricity, and basic logistics. In rural Indonesia, care often stops where infrastructure ends. No access means no diagnosis, no treatment, no survival. Building health starts long before the patient arrives.

Malnutrition weakens the immune system and turns simple infections into life-threatening conditions. In rural Indonesia, children face this cycle daily. Without nutrition, prevention fails. Without treatment, recovery stalls. Food and medical care must go together.

In rural medicine, delay is often the difference between life and death. Distance, lack of transport, and late diagnosis turn treatable conditions into emergencies. Every hour matters. Strengthening early care and access is essential to reducing preventable deaths.

Rubella continues to circulate in rural Indonesia, often unnoticed. Without vaccination and early detection, it leads to severe congenital complications and lifelong disability. Prevention exists. What is missing is access, awareness, and consistent public health action.

Plastic waste is not just pollution. It contaminates water, food, and air, directly impacting human health. In Indonesia, exposure is constant and cumulative. Without waste management and prevention, this silent crisis fuels disease across entire communities every day.

Unsafe water remains one of the leading causes of childhood illness in rural Indonesia. Diarrhea, infections, and dehydration are not accidents. They result from a lack of infrastructure, clean water access, and prevention. These diseases are avoidable with simple, proven solutions.

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I have written the following articles and content

Hello, my name is Alexandre Wettstein

The Fair Future Foundation in East Indonesia is dedicated to eradicating social and medical injustices by ensuring access to healthcare, clean water, and education for all.

New project presentation: 12 ferrocement water reservoirs in East Sumba

08.03.2026 | Today we are releasing the new presentation of our Sumba Water Connections project. It describes the construction of twelve ferrocement reservoirs designed to bring safe water to extremely dry villages where women and girls still walk long distances to collect water. We invite you to read the document.

Final report released for the 115 m³ Laindatang water reservoir

04.03.2026 | The final report on the construction of the 115 m³ water reservoir in Laindatang, East Sumba, is now available. This document presents the full technical process, construction phases, financial transparency and community impact of the project, completed after three years of work in the field.

Sumba HQ Concept V2 released for our 2026 socio medical center

20.02.2026 | The land in East Sumba is secured. We now share Version 2 of the initial concept for our future socio medical base near Waingapu. Plans are evolving, but the objective is clear: build a permanent, functional HQ in 2026, with your support.

Alex

About this author: Alex Wettstein is a health professional with 30 years of field experience in emergency medicine and social medicine. He is the founder of the Fair Future Foundation. Alex is the son of Axel Kahn, whose humanist values profoundly shaped his work.

Content type Post Page Gallery

Let’s prevent malaria rather than cure it!

by Alex | May 2, 2023 | Emergencies, Kawan Against Malaria, Picture of the day

In this "Picture of the Day" shows you three children from Kabanda Village in East Sumba (read this post here), where the PMC program is in place. In this village, very far from everything, especially health centres, malaria is very active and wreaking havoc. We are talking about 80% of children under 12 are affected. It is, therefore, essential to prevent and train families. This is what we are doing here.

The daily observations concerning the causes of malaria are multiple here. These include, in particular, the lack of access to health care, information on prevention methods, the unavailability of health centres and sanitation, and the growing resistance to antimalarial drugs for regions with access to these treatments.

A reminder for all Kawans: Malaria is transmitted by female mosquitoes of the "Genus Anopheles", throughout the East Sumba region. These mosquitoes breed in standing water, such as rainwater storage tanks and open water sources, most of the time in rural and deprived areas of East Sumba.

As Fair Future has repeatedly seen and repeated for years, the consequences of malaria are serious if nothing is done to treat it: High fever, severe headache, nausea and vomiting. If not treated quickly, the disease can progress and lead to severe complications, including kidney failure, anaemia, seizures and death.

It is essential to train families and rural communities to protect themselves from this disease to reduce its transmission. Also, by learning how to prevent and treat Malaria, rural families and communities will reduce the economic and social burden of the disease. Malaria entails high costs for families and communities, particularly medical expenses (if they can access them), school absenteeism, and reduced productivity.

As we apply it with the Primary Medical Care Program (PMC), training families and rural communities to protect themselves from malaria contributes to strengthening the resilience of these populations in the face of epidemics of infectious diseases such as HIV, Tuberculosis, Gastroenteritis, cholera etc…

Alexandre Wettstein from the Foundation’s Medico-Social Camp in East Sumba, Rumah Kambera, Lambanapu, on the 2nd of May 2023

Reduce health risks with clean water for families

by Alex | May 1, 2023 | Picture of the day, Preventive Health, Water Connections

In this "Picture of the Day" shows you what children do several times a day: Fetch water for the family with some 5-litre jerrycans. Most of the time, the young girls take care of this. Here in this photo, it is a young child of ten years. There are no daughters in the family. He does this job instead of going to school. He and his family have only two litres or less of water a day for eating, drinking, bathing and everything else.

Unfortunately, like here in Tana Mbanas (Sumba Tenggah), there is still a vast majority of villages in Sumba that do not have access to clean drinking water. In these villages, the inhabitants often depend on surface water sources such as rivers, lakes or ponds, which bacteria, viruses, chemicals or by animals and insects mostly contaminate.

The lack of clean water has severe consequences for the health of the inhabitants. Waterborne diseases, such as diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid, hepatitis A, Malaria and Dengue fever, are common where access to clean water and toilets is limited or absent. These diseases can be severe and even fatal, especially in children, pregnant women and the elderly.

To help villages without clean water in Sumba, Fair Future and Kawan Baik are implementing effective measures to improve access to clean and healthy water. Our solutions include drilling deep wells with our equipment, construction of water treatment plants, storage tanks, rainwater harvesting and storage, and installation of water management systems—irrigation and construction of healthy sanitation facilities.

We are still seeking funding and technical resources to set up sustainable, safe and clean water infrastructure in this region, one of the world's poorest and most dry.

Alexandre Wettstein from the Foundation’s Medico-Social Camp in East Sumba, Rumah Kambera, Lambanapu, on Mai 1st, 2023.

Fighting Malaria in Eastern Indonesia

by Alex | Apr 28, 2023 | Child Health, Emergencies, Kawan Against Malaria

East Sumba, where we work at the time of writing this article, was experiencing a dramatic malaria epidemic. In the first quarter of 2023, there were more than 28,000 cases of Malaria, a significant increase from the previous year. A few months ago, Fair Future declared this life-threatening emergency. Despite our best efforts, Malaria cases are increasing. Here, when a child has a fever, it is more than 80% of the time a question of Malaria. We conduct health education campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of malaria prevention and early detection. Efforts to control the epidemic should include the distribution of mosquito nets, the provision of essential antimalarial drugs, as well as rapid diagnostic tests.

Frontline Chronicles: Captured Moments of Hope and Resilience by Kawan Sehat Agents

by Alex | Apr 28, 2023 |

Medical care for children affected by Malaria

by Alex | Apr 28, 2023 | Empowerment, Kawan Against Malaria, Picture of the day, Primary Medical Care

In this "Picture of the Day", Fair Future and Kawan Baik medical teams provide medical care to a child most likely affected by Malaria. He is less than two years old and has a fever of 40.6. Her symptoms fit this diagnosis of Malaria. We give him appropriate primary medical care to reduce his fever as quickly as possible. Then he will go for treatment tomorrow at the nearest health centre, more than three hours from the village.

Malaria is a severe public health problem, especially in the ultra-rural and impoverished areas where Fair Future and Kawan Baik Foundations work so hard. Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. Children under five and pregnant women are also particularly vulnerable to Malaria, as their immune systems are less developed and may have more difficulty fighting infection. People suffering from chronic illnesses are also vulnerable (HIV, Hepatitis, malnutrition, etc.)

Ultra-rural and poor areas such as East Sumba are particularly vulnerable to the spread of Malaria due to factors such as lack of water or contaminated water, deplorable housing conditions, lack of access to healthcare health and preventive measures, inadequate sanitation… Moreover, here we do not have antimalarial drugs nor rapid tests to detect the disease. This makes our treatment and prevention work very difficult.

PMC program evaluation in Lapinu

by Alex | Apr 27, 2023 | Community Education, Empowerment, Kawan Sehat Agents, Primary Medical Care

These women linked to the PMC program devote part of their lives to saving others. These unsung heroines work tirelessly to keep people from the danger of illness and injury. They put their lives on the line to ensure others can live to see another day. Teachers trained in primary medical care, these women are the backbone of these ultra-rural communities in East Sumba. They exemplify true bravery and selflessness, and we are eternally grateful for their service. Therefore, we express our deep gratitude to all women who save lives. Thanks for what you’re doing for the others.

Evaluation of the PMC Program in Lapinu Village

by Alex | Apr 22, 2023 |

PMC program evaluation in Kabanda

by Alex | Apr 20, 2023 | Community Education, Empowerment, Primary Medical Care

Kabanda is genuinely one of the most isolated I have ever seen. Getting it is difficult, even dangerous, at times. No road leads to this village; only extremely steep or steep stony paths allow us to go there. It took us over six hours to get there, including four hours of absolute terrain with the Truck of Life, a 4×4 medical truck specially designed for this journey. Kabanda is no exception; so many villages are in the same situation: That is to say, they have no road leading there. This raises – among other things – the question of access to health care, of course. And it is for these types of communities that Fair Future exists, and together with our friends from Kawan Baik, Sumba Volunteer and Charis Foundation, we have created this primary medical care program.

Check blood pressure in rural areas

by Alex | Apr 17, 2023 | Preventive Health, Primary Medical Care, Project Update

Here in the ultra-rural and poor areas where Fair Future Foundation and Kawan Baik Indonesia work, populations tend to have a higher prevalence of high blood pressure than in urban and wealthier areas. This is mainly due to poor diet, excessive tobacco consumption, and poor hydration. Of course, poverty and limited access to resources will also contribute to higher stress levels, increasing blood pressure. An unhealthy lifestyle increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and other health problems. We teach some “Kawan Sehat” health workers participating in the primary medical care program to measure blood pressure and take the necessary measures.

Evaluation of the PMC Program in Kabanda Village

by Alex | Apr 17, 2023 |

PMC Program – Blood Pressure screening in rural Areas

by Alex | Apr 13, 2023 |

Check Blood Pressure as part of the PMC program

by Alex | Apr 13, 2023 | Kawan Sehat Agents, Picture of the day, Primary Medical Care

This new "Picture of the Day" shows you Mama Katerina, from the village of Lapinu, who is learning to take blood pressure with Dr Aldo. She knows what a systole is or a diastole is and from when and under what conditions there is hyper or hypotension. She will also learn to give appropriate medical treatment (Captopril) for high blood pressure.

As part of the Primary Medical Care program, Katerina and eight other "Kawan Sehat" health workers participate in this unique pilot experience. These women teachers can measure a patient's blood pressure and give appropriate medical treatment in case of hypertension.

It is a social and medical revolution, in our opinion. The fight and prevention of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases are essential here in the ultra-rural regions of eastern Indonesia. To be active and efficient, our medical teams provide knowledge and equipment (manual blood pressure measuring device, stethoscope) in each pilot village. They are five out of the thirty-five in which the PMC project is implemented.

This, for example, has led us to talk about active and passive smoking. To make it clear, tobacco is dangerous for your health, and it is also the cause of high blood pressure and, consequently, strokes, heart attacks, respiratory problems and a host of other related diseases at the cigarette shop.

The Zero Malaria Spot Radio

Interactive East Sumba map