As part of its Community Development Program, Asian Agri routinely collaborates with local health authorities to provide basic health amenities as well as health education to rural communities in Indonesia.
Upon receiving a request for a health amenity from a particular community, Asian Agri considers the request and dispatches members of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team to visit the area and to conduct a review of its health needs.
In 2016 and 2017, Asian Agri organized a total of 28 health projects, helping more than 2,800 people in North Sumatra, Riau and Jambi.
One main way which Asian Agri contributes to improving health is by developing infrastructure such as bore wells, water towers, water tanks, and piping to facilitate clean water supply, as well as by building public sanitation facilities in communities which lack them.
This includes building restrooms at certain elementary schools, eliminating the need for school children to walk to forests in order to use the toilet.
Asian Agri has also set up health units at elementary schools, which are meant to promote the importance of healthy lifestyles among students as well as the larger communities in the areas.
Asian Agri is also a strong anti-drug advocate, routinely holding anti-drug roadshows and campaigns to educate school children in Indonesia on the dangers of drug use.
Additionally, Asian Agri collaborates with local health offices in running Poskedes (Village Health Posts) and Posyandu (Integrated Service Posts) initiatives. These community-based programs oversee the provision of basic health services in rural communities.
Poskedes and Posyandu are public health posts set up in villages to serve the communities there at the village level, before they are referred to Puskemes (public health centres at the regency or municipal level) or to advanced hospitals.
Asian Agri also works together with village heads to run community initiatives such as the provision of free medical check-ups at villages.
