inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. The Indonesian Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has officially been included in the list of recognized authorities by the World Health Organization (WHO), or WHO Listed Authority (WLA). This achievement marks global recognition of Indonesia's health regulatory system.

The Head of BPOM, Taruna Ikrar, stated that only around 30 countries worldwide, such as those in Europe and the United States, hold WLA status. The majority of countries that have achieved this status have the established regulatory systems.

He further stated that Indonesia is the first middle-income country to achieve recognition from this international health agency. According to him, this demonstrates that Indonesia is on par with developed countries.

"Indonesia's regulations have been recognized as being on par with developed countries in the context of drug regulation. And we are in the process of developing it further," he said, as reported by RRI on Thursday (1/29/2026).

He explained that this achievement was achieved because Indonesia has reached level four maturity in its vaccine regulatory system. This status is indeed one of the main requirements for inclusion on the WHO's list of reference authorities.

He hopes that WHO recognition of the BPOM will expedite the approval of Indonesian vaccine products in other countries. He believes this will be an advantage for Indonesia, as products approved by the BPOM can then serve as regulatory references at the international level.

"Previously, products approved by the BPOM were recognized by 286 million people in Indonesia, but now they can be recognized worldwide. We can also contribute economically through exports (for example)," he said.

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