Health Structure and Infrastructure

One of the efforts in improving the quality of human life is made through the development in the area of health and the delivery of high quality health care service. The availability of the high quality health care service includes (1) health facilities (i.e., hospitals, local government clinics (Puskesmas) and Family Planning Clinics/integrated health care service station (Posyandu) and (2) medical labors (physicians, midwives and nurses).

Family Planning Program

Family planning program has been being implemented by continuously organizing a dissemination of the information about the use of contraception to the local people in order to enhance their awareness of the importance of family planning.

Communication and Transportation Infrastructure

Ground Transportation

The condition and the characteristics of the lowland areas of Asmat district that are frequently flooded require different methods of road construction. Most of the roads in the district are constructed in the form of bridge-roads. Until the end of 2007 water transportation is the main mode to connect the existing sub-districts. It is necessary to find alternative methods to construct a good network of roads that enables smooth communication with other districts such as Mimika, Yahukimo and Mappi. Such a good network of roads will surely enable easy communication and access to the remote and insulated areas.

Water Transportation

The water transportation network of rivers and sea connects the existing seven sub-districts of Asmat district. However, it is necessary to improve the quality of the transportation service using the water transportation network. The existing harbors in the district are still in a condition that deserves serious attention and only small ships can stop at the harbors. Therefore, the construction of new and better harbors is highly required. Such better harbors will automatically support the development of the economic sectors of the district, especially for the supply of basic requirements of the people of the district. Rivers and sea play an important role in the district as water transportation network because the majority of the hinterland areas of the district is accessible only using the water transportation network and the main transportation means are pioneering ships and traditional motorized ships. Meanwhile, the regional transportation is covered by PT Pelni, a state-owned shipping company. Sea transportation network is very important for the communication among the existing islands and the costal areas of the district.

The water transportation in Asmat district is generally classified into three, which are:

• Intra-Papua transportation service
  
  It operates through the transportation routes for the existing small islands and especially aims at supplying the basic requirements of the people living in the islands and in the coastal areas.
• Inter-islands transportation service
  
  It operates through semi-regional transportation routes and especially aims at supplying the basic requirements, the supply for physical development, and at supporting the marketing of the products  resulting from the economic activities of the local people and the mobilization of the local people,
• Long distance transportation service
  It operates the transportation service with the covering areas of Central Indonesia, Java and Bali using the big ships of the state-owned shipping company (PT. Pelni).

Air Transportation

Ewer airport is the main airport that connects Asmat district with Merauke and Mimika districts. Anticipating the demand for effective and efficient transportation it is necessary to further develop the airport that bigger aircrafts can operate using the airport. The air transportation plays an important role in the district, especially to overcome the problems facing the ground and water transportations in the hinterland areas of the district. The air transportation service is regularly operated by the sub-district Pantai Kausari I Kamur and the sub-district Agats in Ewer airport using Twin Otter aircrafts.

Educational Structure and Infrastructure

The development in the area of education in Asmat district puts the emphasis on the consolidation and the management of the education and puts high priority on the quality of basic education, equal distribution of education to the existing remote and insulated areas in order to improve the quality of human resources of the district.

Religion

There are 164 houses of worship of the existing religions. There are 97 Chatolic churches (59.15%) and 2 chapels in addition to 23 Protestant churches (14.00%) with 38 houses of worship (23.17%). Meanwhile, there are 4 mosques distributed in the district, except the sub-district Suator, Akat and Favit.  The data of the Office of Religion Department of Merauke district shows that there are 158 churchmen and 108 of them are Protestant churchmen, 12 Catholic churchmen and 12 Moslem leaders.

Telephone

The communication network of telephone in Asmat district is only available in the sub-district Agats in 2007 with 166 subscribers and the number decreases as compared to that in 2003 (66.27% decrease).  The establishment of Asmat district and the capital city Agats will automatically increase the demand of the people for telephone lines. Therefore, it is expected that PT. Telkom will anticipate the increasing demand for the telecommunication lines in the coming days. Meanwhile, there has been V-sat communication installation available in the districts Sawa Erma and Atsy.  There are three installations for each of the districts.

Post and Postal Money Transfer Services

There are until 2006 only some post offices and postal money transfer services in Asmat district. They are the Secondary Post and Postal Money Transfer Office, Village Post Office and House Post Office. The Village Post Offices are situated in the villages of the costal area of Pantai Kasuari. One village post office is in the sub-district Atsy and one Post and Postal Money Transfer Office in the sub-district Agas.

Education

There are 6 play groups or kindergartens in Asmat district in the education year of 2006/2007. Two of them are public play groups with the status Pembina (Builder). The ratio of the students to the existing classrooms is 25:1, while the ratio of the students to the existing teachers is 14:1.

There are 104 elementary schools in the same education year and 80 of them are public elementary schools and the remaining are private elementary schools. The ratio of the students to the existing teachers is 33:1, while the ratio of the students to the existing classrooms is 18:1.

There are 9 Junior High Schools in the education year of 2007/2008 and 8 of them is public schools and the remaining is private school. The ratio of the students to the existing classrooms is 32:1 and the ratio of the students to the existing teachers is 17:1. There are 3 public Senior High Schools in Asmat district with 768 students in the education year of 2007/2008. The ratio of the students to the existing classroom is 32:1. It means that there are 32 students in a classroom on average. The ratio of the students to the existing teachers is 13:1. It means that each of the teachers teaches 13 students.