WHO (2017) defines quality of life as individuals perception of their position in life, both in their cultural and value systems in which they live as well as in their relation to their respective goals, expectations, standards and concerns. It is a broad ranging concept that involves a person’s physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships, personal beliefs and their relationship to salient features of their environment. In line with the definition from WHO, CDC (2017) describes quality of life as a broad multidimensional concept that usually includes subjective evaluations of both positive and negative aspects of life.

Quality of life can be measured in multiple ways. Even though quality of life encompasses various domain such as jobs, housing, schools, and environment, health is nevertheless one of the key domain in quality of life. In addition, culture, values, and spirituality are also an important part in the overall quality of life that adds the complexity of its measurement (CDC, 2017). Consequently, the scale / index of quality of life requires at least three domains such as physical function, mental status, and the ability to engage in social activities in accordance with existing norms (Spitzer WO, 1986 in the 2014 MW Post).

Quality of life index is an estimation of overall quality of life which takes into account purchasing power index (higher is better), pollution index (lower is better), house price to income ratio (lower is better), cost of living index (lower is better), safety index (higher is better), health care index (higher is better), traffic commute time index (lower is better) and climate index (higher is better). In the year 2017 Indonesia occupies the 45th position out of 56 countries. This position an improvement after the
previous year in 2016 Indonesia ranked 57th (from 61 countries). Despite the increase, Indonesia is still under neighboring countries such as Singapore, India and Malaysia (Numbeo, 2017).

It is obvious that the effort to improve the quality of life can not be solved only by the health sector alone. Multi-sector collaboration is required to achieve equitable development in various sectors in improving quality of life. It is important for us in Indonesia especially in Yogyakarta to have a
program to learn the experience of multi sector collaboration to improve quality of life from other countries. Therefore, in this 57th MILAD UAD series, we will hold an international seminar with the theme “Improving Quality of Life through Multi sector Collaboration” which invite speakers from UAD and abroad.