Alexandre Wettstein

02/04/2026

SD Padengi Iwi.

Eighteen hours on the road, just to reach one school. No access by car. No electricity. No safety net. Only narrow tracks, rivers, mud, cliffs, and the decision to go anyway.

We rode where roads do not exist. Scooters slipping on soaked clay, crossing fragile wooden bridges, pushing through bushes, falling, getting up, moving again. Rain, wind, exhaustion. At times, we thought we would not make it. And still, we continued.

All this for 24 SolarBuddy lamps. Twenty-four children.

When we arrived, only three were at school. The others had already walked back home. So we went to them. House by house, across the hills, carrying the lamps by hand. Because here, nothing is close. Nothing is easy. And yet, this is where people live.

These lamps are simple. But here, they change everything.
They allow children to walk safely at night, to study, to read, to write.
They replace toxic kerosene lamps that burn lungs and eyes.
They reduce falls, injuries, and risks on these same paths we struggled to cross.

We do this every week. With scooters, with the Truck of Life, on foot if needed. This is not an exception. This is the work.

If it takes 18 hours to reach one school, then we take 18 hours.
Because even for one child, it matters.

02/04/2026

SD Padengi Iwi.

Eighteen hours on the road, just to reach one school. No access by car. No electricity. No safety net. Only narrow tracks, rivers, mud, cliffs, and the decision to go anyway.

We rode where roads do not exist. Scooters slipping on soaked clay, crossing fragile wooden bridges, pushing through bushes, falling, getting up, moving again. Rain, wind, exhaustion. At times, we thought we would not make it. And still, we continued.

All this for 24 SolarBuddy lamps. Twenty-four children.

When we arrived, only three were at school. The others had already walked back home. So we went to them. House by house, across the hills, carrying the lamps by hand. Because here, nothing is close. Nothing is easy. And yet, this is where people live.

These lamps are simple. But here, they change everything.
They allow children to walk safely at night, to study, to read, to write.
They replace toxic kerosene lamps that burn lungs and eyes.
They reduce falls, injuries, and risks on these same paths we struggled to cross.

We do this every week. With scooters, with the Truck of Life, on foot if needed. This is not an exception. This is the work.

If it takes 18 hours to reach one school, then we take 18 hours.
Because even for one child, it matters.

02/04/2026

𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗿𝗮-𝗿𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲.

We see wounds left untreated for days, fractures stabilised with wood, and infections worsening without relief. People do not wait by choice; they wait because there is nowhere to go.

No transport. No money. No information. No one to tell them what to do, where to go, or how to act.

Health centres are often hours away, sometimes closed or empty—no nurse, no medicines.

So, people stay. They endure. They do what they can. Sometimes, harmful substances are used on wounds, not out of ignorance, but out of lack of resources.

Pain becomes normal.

For 17 years, Fair Future Foundation and Kawan Baik Indonesia have been working in these conditions. Through Primary Medical Care, local health agents bring basic treatment directly to villages. They clean wounds, relieve pain, and prevent complications.

This is not advanced medicine; this is the minimum that should exist everywhere.

The reality is simple: care still does not reach those who need it most.

Read the full article https://fairfuturefoundation.org/untreated-pain-rural-medicine/

- World Health Organization (WHO) - UNICEF - International Committee of the Red Cross - United Nations Development Programme - UNDP - PALANG MERAH INDONESIA - Protokol Sumba Timur - Swiss Development & Cooperation - Embassy of Switzerland in Indonesia - UNFPA - Perth Rotary - Western Australia

Reveal how untreated pain rural medicine worsens infections, malnutrition, and outcomes in remote villages where access to care, medicines, and trained staff remains critically limited.

01/04/2026

𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵. 𝗢𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀. 𝗜𝗻 𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗿𝗮-𝗿𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗮, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁.

Patients still die from treatable conditions because care arrives too late, referral systems fail, essential medicines are missing, and primary care remains too weak or too distant.

This article examines a reality that is rarely described clearly. The problem is not only underfunding. It is also leakage, corruption, inflated administrative costs, excessive transport claims, costly supervision structures, and layers of bureaucracy that absorb resources before they ever reach a village, a household, or a patient.

For 17 years, Fair Future Foundation and Kawan Baik Indonesia have worked in places where distance replaces triage, and travel replaces treatment. What we see is simple. Effective care does not begin with reports. It begins where people live, with community health agents, continuity, early detection, prevention, and practical systems that function under real conditions.

Global health outcomes will not improve if money remains trapped in institutions, vehicles, allowances, and decision-making chains. It must reach patients directly, early, and locally.

Read more here https://fairfuturefoundation.org/global-health-funding-corruption/

- World Health Organization (WHO) - Swiss Development & Cooperation - Embassy of Switzerland in Indonesia - PATH - The Global Fund - International Committee of the Red Cross - Protokol Sumba Timur - UNFPA - UNDPIndonesia - PALANG MERAH INDONESIA

Understand global health funding corruption in ultra-rural Eastern Indonesia, where leakage, bureaucracy, and inflated field costs prevent care, medicines, referral, and survival.

31/03/2026

𝗜𝗻 𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗿𝗮-𝗿𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀, 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗮, 𝘀𝗲𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲.

An untreated wound. A child with pneumonia who breathes faster at night. An undiagnosed postpartum infection. A newborn who stops feeding. A case of malaria or dengue fever that worsens due to a lack of monitoring.

What we are currently preparing is not just an article. It is a field study aimed at understanding how these infections become deadly when families face remoteness, a lack of transportation and triage, limited access to antibiotics and oxygen, and delays in patient referral. We want to document the real journey, from the first symptom to probable sepsis, household by household.

This is exactly where Fair Future Foundation and Kawan Baik Indonesia have been working for 16 years, with Swiss precision, practical medicine, and community-based solutions. Thanks to our primary healthcare programme, Kawan Sehat health workers are often on the front lines, providing screening, counselling, wound care, and emergency referrals.

Most deaths from sepsis in rural areas are preventable. To reduce them, we need to understand them clearly, clinically, and honestly.

Read more here https://fairfuturefoundation.org/sepsis-rural-indonesia-study/

- World Health Organization (WHO) - UNICEF - CDC - PATH - Swiss Development & Cooperation - Embassy of Switzerland in Indonesia - The Global Fund - Protokol Sumba Timur - International Committee of the Red Cross

Explore sepsis in rural Indonesia through Fair Future’s East Sumba study, examining how common infections worsen, why care is delayed, and how community detection can save lives.

26/03/2026

𝗦𝗲𝘅𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗮. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲.

In the communities where Fair Future Foundation and Kawan Baik Indonesia work, infections like syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia often go undiagnosed for months or years. Not because people ignore them, but because testing, education, and confidential care do not exist.

Untreated, these infections lead to infertility, chronic pain, pregnancy complications, and congenital disease. These are not exceptional cases. They are predictable outcomes of delayed diagnosis and weak health systems.

For over 16 years, our Swiss-led teams and Kawan Sehat health agents have been working directly in villages, bringing education, early detection, and basic care where no system effectively reaches.

This is what public health looks like at the last mile.

Read more about this reality on the ground and how we respond every day
https://fairfuturefoundation.org/sexually-transmitted-infections-rural-indonesia/

- Swiss Development & Cooperation - Embassy of Switzerland in Indonesia - World Health Organization (WHO) - UNICEF - PATH - CDC - UNFPA - Rotary Club Mandurah Districts - Protokol Sumba Timur - International Committee of the Red Cross

Explore sexually transmitted infections in rural Indonesia, where lack of testing, stigma, and weak health systems lead to preventable infertility,...

21/03/2026

𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀.

It is a measurable public health crisis. In Sumba, we see very young girls becoming mothers before their bodies are ready. Premature births, anaemia, obstructed labour, and neonatal complications are daily realities.

These pregnancies are rarely planned. They are the result of limited access to education, lack of reproductive health information, social pressure and, in some cases, forced relationships. The consequences are immediate and often severe for both mother and child.

What is most striking is not only the scale of the problem, but the absence of effective prevention. No consistent public health campaigns, no structured action, no visible priority given to protecting these young girls.

Through the Primary Medical Care programme, Fair Future Foundation and Kawan Baik Indonesia act directly in villages, identifying risks early, supporting young women and guiding them toward care when possible. This is field medicine.

Read more: https://fairfuturefoundation.org/child-marriage-adolescent-pregnancy-indonesia/

- UNICEF - World Health Organization (WHO) - Swiss Development & Cooperation - Embassy of Switzerland in Indonesia - UNFPA - World Bank Group - Rotary Club Mandurah Districts - International Committee of the Red Cross - The Global Fund - Clinton Foundation

Understand child marriage adolescent pregnancy in rural Indonesia, its severe medical consequences, systemic neglect and lack of public health action in ultra rural regions.

20/03/2026

In rural Indonesia, snakebite is not an accident. It is a predictable, daily risk for farmers, children, and families living close to nature.

What determines survival is not luck. It is time. Time to recognise severity. Time to immobilise. Time to reach care.

At Fair Future Foundation and Kawan Baik Indonesia, we see the same pattern again and again. Delays. Distance. Lack of transport. Harmful first actions. And a condition that should be treatable becomes fatal.

Snakebite causes neurotoxicity, paralysis, bleeding disorders, and death when untreated. But it is largely preventable and manageable with the right response.

Through our Primary Medical Care program, we train community health agents to recognise danger signs, act immediately, and connect patients to care faster. Because in these environments, knowledge saves lives as much as medicine does.

Snakebite is a neglected emergency. But it does not have to remain one.

Read more about snakebite as a medical emergency and why time defines survival in rural Indonesia. https://fairfuturefoundation.org/snake-bites-rural-indonesia/

- World Health Organization (WHO) - UNICEF - PathGlobal - Health Action International - Wellcome Trust - Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine - LSTM - Swiss TPH - Swiss Development & Cooperation - Embassy of Switzerland in Indonesia - International Committee of the Red Cross

Act fast in snakebite rural Indonesia, recognise severity early, and understand how delays, lack of care, and poor first response turn a treatable emergency into death.

17/03/2026

Tuberculosis is not growing in rural Indonesia by chance. It grows where poverty deepens, where children learn nothing about prevention, where families live crowded into dark wooden homes with little ventilation, and where a chronic cough can continue for months before anyone is tested.

In many developed countries, tuberculosis has become rare. Not because the bacterium disappeared, but because prevention, early diagnosis, decent housing, nutrition, and accessible healthcare became public priorities. In too many rural parts of Indonesia, these conditions still do not exist.

This is not only a medical failure. It is a structural one. When prevention is weak, health education is absent, treatment pathways are difficult to reach, and public authorities tolerate such conditions, tuberculosis keeps circulating inside families and villages.

Through 17 years of Swiss-led fieldwork, Fair Future Foundation and Kawan Baik Indonesia work directly inside homes and villages through the Primary Medical Care program. We identify symptoms early, guide patients toward diagnosis, support follow-up, and bring healthcare where conventional systems stop.

Tuberculosis is curable. But without prevention, education, and real rural access to care, it will continue to spread among those already carrying the heaviest burden.

Read more https://fairfuturefoundation.org/tuberculosis-rural-indonesia-poverty/

- World Health Organization (WHO) - UNICEF - The Lancet - Swiss Development & Cooperation - Embassy of Indonesia in Switzerland - United Nations Development Programme - UNDP - International Committee of the Red Cross - CDC Global

Explore tuberculosis rural Indonesia and how poverty, malnutrition and delayed diagnosis fuel transmission in remote communities where healthcare...

16/03/2026

Unsafe water and childhood diarrhoeal disease in rural Indonesia are not just distant public health issues. They are daily realities for thousands of children.

In many villages where we work in East Sumba, families still collect water from rivers, shallow wells, or stagnant basins. This water is used for cooking, washing, and drinking. It is often contaminated by animal waste, plastic pollution, and poor sanitation.

The medical consequences are well known. Diarrhoeal diseases remain one of the leading causes of child illness in rural environments. Repeated infections cause dehydration, intestinal damage, and chronic malnutrition.

What is harder to understand is the silence surrounding these realities.

Millions of litres of water can be diverted for industrial projects such as shrimp farms in already arid regions, while nearby communities still lack access to clean water systems. Pesticides, antibiotics, and agricultural runoff infiltrate soils and groundwater.

At the same time, prevention campaigns are almost nonexistent. Public health education is rare. Waste management systems are missing. Entire communities face preventable health risks alone.

For 17 years, Swiss teams working with Fair Future Foundation and Kawan Baik Indonesia have focused on practical solutions. Water reservoirs, sanitation systems, and community health education reduce exposure to contaminated water and protect children.

Informing matters.
Exposing failures matters even more.
Acting matters the most.

Read the full article here https://fairfuturefoundation.org/unsafe-water-childhood-diarrhea-indonesia/

Understand unsafe water childhood diarrhea Indonesia. Contaminated water, poor sanitation, and waste pollution expose rural children to infection, dehydration, and malnutrition.

16/03/2026

In East Sumba, access to safe water is still a daily struggle.

During the long dry season, many families depend on shallow wells or small natural cavities to collect water. These sources are often contaminated. Children and women walk long distances to bring back only a few liters each day. The result is not only exhaustion. It is disease.

Unsafe water is one of the main drivers of diarrheal infections, chronic dehydration and undernutrition. According to global public health data, these conditions remain among the leading causes of illness and mortality in children under five in many rural regions of the world.

Safe water changes everything.

Together with and our Indonesian partners , we are working with local communities in East Sumba to build 12 rainwater reservoirs serving two villages. These tanks capture rain from rooftops and store it safely for drinking, cooking and hygiene throughout the dry months.

This is simple infrastructure. But its impact is profound.

Access to safe water helps prevent infections, improves child nutrition, supports hygiene and protects families from many preventable diseases. It allows children to spend more time in school instead of walking hours each day to collect water.

Most importantly, it saves lives.

The project you see here has been designed with the communities themselves. Local families take part in the construction, strengthening ownership, skills and long-term sustainability.

We are sharing the full project document in both English and French to make the work transparent and accessible to everyone.

If you would like to support this initiative, your help will directly contribute to building these 12 reservoirs and bringing safe water to families and children who need it most.

Clean water is one of the most powerful tools we have to protect health, reduce infectious diseases and fight preventable child mortality.

FairFutureFoundation