A Study On Assistance Of The United States Agency For International Development’s Malaria Prevention And Cure In Indonesia(1951-1979)

Since the beginning of the Cold War,the United States regarded the containment of Soviet Communist expansion as an important part of its national diplomatic strategy.With the intensified competition between the United States and the Soviet Union in Southeast Asia,Indonesia,which is rich in strategic resources and outstanding geographical advantages,has become a target of US diplomacy.As a newly independent nation-state,Indonesia has a strong anti-colonial tendency due to the painful experience of Western colonial rule in the past,it pursues an active neutral foreign policy between the two major camps of the United States and the Soviet Union,opposes major countries’ interference in its own affairs,and avoids involvement in the struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union.During the Cold War’s expansion into third world countries,American foreign policy makers recognized that disease,public health,and poverty caused by it were important factors for the rise of communist forces in local countries,US-Soviet competition expanded from political and military fields to Health field.Through external public health assistance,the United States has become a major implementer of global public health diplomacy.In order to prevent Indonesia from falling to the Soviet Union and spurring its opposition to communist expansion,the role of malaria Prevention and Cure in improving Indonesia’s public health and helping it embark on the development path is valued by the US government.As a result,the United States provided Indonesia with assistance through the official aid agency,Agency for International Development,in the hope of influencing Indonesia and serving the United States’ foreign policy on aid in Southeast Asia under the background of the Cold War.Assistance of the United States Agency for International Development’s Malaria Prevention and Cure in Indonesia has gone through two periods,Sukarno and Suharto,three stages,include Malaria control,malaria eradication,and return to malaria control,which have achieved good results as a whole.It not only generates benefits for Indonesia’s public health and economic fields,but also benefits the realization of US interests in Indonesia.