Anti-anemia drive aims at women

Anti-anemia drive aims at women

JAKARTA (JP): The health and manpower ministries signed an
agreement yesterday to launch a campaign to eliminate anemia
among women workers.

Under the joint campaign, the two ministries will invite
companies to discussions on anemia, which is most prevalent among
women, and how it could affect the productivity of their female
workers.

The companies will also be asked to give out iron pills to
their female workers to help prevent the disease, which is caused
chiefly by a deficient hemoglobin concentration in the blood.

Nyoman Kumara Rai of the Ministry of Health said anemia can
reduce the stamina and productivity of workers by as much as 20
percent.

"Initially, we are going to summon about 25 to 50 companies
mainly in Jakarta to discuss the campaign," Nyoman, who is the
ministry's director general for community health, told reporters
after signing the agreement.

Suwarto, the director general for industrial relations and
control, signed on behalf of the Ministry of Manpower.

Nyoman said anemia is one of the country's major nutritional
problems.

"An official survey has estimated that as many as 63.5 percent
of all pregnant women and between 28 and 50 percent of women who
are not pregnant suffer from anemia."

He attributed the high rates to a combination of low nutrition
education, bad eating habits, poor sanitation, low incomes and
the prevalence of worm-related diseases. Anemia also weakens
one's resistance to disease, he added.

Corporate participation in the campaign will involve the
distribution of iron tablets, which should not pose much of a
financial burden to the companies, he said.

A woman worker should be given one tablet, at a cost of Rp 10
each, every week for a period of one year, he said, adding: "The
campaign is in their own best interest." (31)