Ensuring healthy lives: saving lives at birth in Indonesia

Programs for saving lives at birth have been implemented in many countries, especially in the less developed countries, such as Indonesia, where maternal and child deaths are still too high. Internationally, ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all is one of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) launched in 2015. The UN SDGs is a global plan of action for prosperity, people, and the planet that presents an opportunity to mobilise both government and society to ensure no one is left behind and equality for all. This chapter represents an attempt to understand the varying results achieved at a sub-regional level by a saving lives at birth program in the eastern part of Indonesia. Through this case study, we focus on identifying the barriers to program participation and the enablers that successfully prompt women to give birth at a health facility. We also explore two theoretical frameworks used in business and economics—social marketing for health promotion and shared leadership—to ascertain whether they might improve the region’s saving lives program.