Regulating Medicine Quality in Real-World Systems
Indonesian Food and Drug Authority (BPOM)
System Level Work
Conducted post-market surveillance and analysed medicine distribution systems across Indonesia, including informal markets and online sales. Contributed to national sampling guidance, supervised provincial implementation, and developed policy recommendations to address risks related to substandard and falsified medicines.
Served as sub-coordinator (2021–2025), leading a team of four to coordinate activities on medicine distribution risks, policy analysis, and stakeholder engagement.
Served as sub-coordinator (2021–2025), leading a team of four to coordinate activities on medicine distribution risks, policy analysis, and stakeholder engagement.
Community-level work
Conducted community empowerment programmes to promote rational medicine use and prevent antibiotic misuse in remote regions. Delivered public health campaigns using visual tools and worked with local leaders to align messages with sociocultural contexts.
Insight
My experience at BPOM shifted my perspective from viewing medicine quality as a matter of regulatory enforcement to understanding it as a broader public health issue shaped by unequal access in systems.
It also revealed a gap between implementation and impact, where programmes often operate as routine activities without clear mechanisms to assess whether they lead to meaningful behaviour change. This informed my decision to further explore how public health interventions are evaluated in practice, including through my MSc training.
It also revealed a gap between implementation and impact, where programmes often operate as routine activities without clear mechanisms to assess whether they lead to meaningful behaviour change. This informed my decision to further explore how public health interventions are evaluated in practice, including through my MSc training.