27% of Tanjung Priok students have intestinal worms

Poor sanitation and poverty have resulted in 27 percent of elementary school students in densely populated Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, having intestinal worms, according to research.

"At worst, most people lack sense about hygiene," Adi Sasongko, chief of Kusuma Buana Foundation, which revealed the results of the research on Thursday. The research was conducted from 1987 to July 2002.

The Foundation launched a campaign to improve public awareness about hygiene at an elementary school in Rawa Badak subdistrict, Tanjung Priok.

It found that 27 percent or 2,323 students of the 12,148 students in 85 elementary schools in Tanjung Priok had worms.

The figure was much higher than for those in other districts, which ranged from 6 percent to 8 percent.

The foundation examined a total of 141,397 elementary school students from 527 schools in 11 districts in Jakarta. The result showed that in general the prevalence of intestinal worms had decreased from 79 percent to less than 10 percent over 15 years.

Elementary students are prone to worms compared to older children as they are very active and unaware about hygiene and lacked adequate knowledge about intestinal worms. --JP