FAIR Equivalency in Indonesia’s Digital Health Framework

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the regulatory framework for health data in Indonesia in order to understand the policy context and explore the possibility of expanding the adoption and implementation of the FAIR Guidelines, which state that data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR), in Indonesia. Although the FAIR Guidelines were not explicitly mentioned in any of the policy documents relevant to the Indonesian digital health sector, six out of the eight documents analysed contained FAIR Equivalent principles. In particular, Indonesia’s Population Identification Number (NIK) has the potential, as a unique identifier, to support the integration and interoperability (findability) of data, which is crucial to all other aspects of the FAIR Guidelines. There is also a plan to build standards and protocols into the implementation of information systems in each ministry and government agency to improve data accessibility (accessibility), the integration of the various information systems is planned/ongoing (interoperability), and the need for a standardised arrangement for health information systems related to health data following the community standard is recognised (reusability). The documents at the core of Indonesia’s digital health/eHealth policy have the highest FAIR Equivalency Score (FE-Score), showing some degree of alignment between the Indonesian digital health implementation vision and the FAIR Guidelines. This indicates that Indonesia's digital health sector is open to using the FAIR Guidelines.