Jakarta. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently unveiled his plans to back an anti-malaria drug trial for the Indonesian military with multimillion-dollar funding.

Freshly reelected Albanese had just announced the initiative when he met President Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta on Thursday. According to a joint communique issued after the high-level talks, plans are underway to help Indonesia get rid of the life-threatening disease by involving the military forces.

“Leaders welcomed new defense initiatives, including the Indonesian Military's use of Australian training ranges and increased military medicine cooperation. [This includes] a clinical trial to support Indonesia’s goal of malaria eradication by 2030,” the communique reads. 

In a separate media statement, Albanese revealed that his country would provide A$3.5 million ($2.2 million) for the clinical trial for the Indonesian military. He also said these upcoming trials were built on the treaty-level defense cooperation agreement -- a document that Prabowo had signed in August 2024 when he was still the defense minister. Neither the joint communique nor the statement went into more details on the tests. Prabowo told the joint news conference earlier that day that both leaders had pledged to ratify the aforementioned defense pact. The ex-army general said, “We will continue to discuss efforts that can boost our defense cooperation."

Indonesia has one of the highest malaria burdens in Asia, although the cases were on a decline. The country recorded 418,546 cases in 2023, down from 443,530 reported the previous year, according to the Health Ministry. The disease, which spreads to humans by infected mosquitoes, is common in tropical countries like Indonesia. Most of the cases in the country came from Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua.

It was also during this Jakarta trip that Albanese announced a A$15 million package over four years to enhance bilateral maritime cooperation. The Australian politician also seeks an annual officials-level dialogue on maritime issues.