CHILD MORTALITY IN INDONESIA’S MEGA-URBAN REGIONS: MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENTIALS, AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

The mega-urban regions of Jabotabek (the Jakarta Extended Metropolitan Region) Bandung and Surabaya have been widely demonstrated to have some of the lowest child mortality rates (CMR) in Indonesia. However, the wide disparities in socioeconomic characteristics, living conditions and access to health services of the rapidly growing populations of these places leads to the assumption that CMR levels vary drastically as well. This paper, which contains the initial results of a PhD thesis, presents analysis of the spatial distribution of CMR in the sub-districts within Jabotabek, Bandung and Surabaya. The CMR are indirectly estimated by the Brass methods (Trussell equations) using the 2000 Indonesian Population Census, and the important limitations of this methodology and data source are analysed in depth. The results show large differences in CMR within these mega-urban regions, especially between the low CMR of the population living in the urban core and the significantly higher CMR of those living in peri-urban areas. The disparities in CMR closely correspond with differences in socioeconomic characteristics and access to health services of these populations. The paper concludes by examining the policy implications of the disparities in CMR in Jabotabek, Bandung and Surabaya, and analysing how the collection of such child mortality data needs to be improved in Indonesia, especially with the advent of decentralisation