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)