Bad habits 'hinder' healthy living plans

Bad habits 'hinder' healthy living plans

JAKARTA (JP): A lack of awareness and positive attitude toward
healthy living among residents here often hinders efforts to
develop a healthy city, an official said yesterday.

The director general for contagious disease and environmental
sanitation, Hadi M. Abednego, said many people still failed to
understand the consequences of their actions.

"For instance, a street cleaner sweeps the roads and
eventually throws the junk into the gutter. This is ridiculous.
By dumping the trash into a conduit it will only contribute to
flooding."

He said people's habits needed to be changed, adding that many
officials did not understand the concept of creating a healthy
environment.

Abednego made the comments after presenting a paper during the
first day of a three-day seminar staged by Atmajaya University on
developing a health city.

He said the cultural gap between people from urban and rural
areas was to blame for the ongoing problem.

"Every year Jakarta is flooded by newcomers. It is hard to
train them into getting used to the urban lifestyle. Some of
them, for example, probably do not have any idea how to use a
modern toilet. It's a matter of culture and education.

"It takes time and hard work to change people's behavior. The
municipality never stops its continuous campaigns to educate
residents about sanitation.

"But I tell you it's not easy to teach some 11 million
residents who come from different backgrounds."

In his presentation, Abednego revealed the 10 criteria which
should be included in the process of developing a healthy city.

Among the criteria are the following: a city should create a
healthy and comfortable environment with proper trash management;
improve air and water quality; control vehicle emission and
liquid waste treatment; provide sufficient job opportunities and
education facilities; have adequate human settlements, recreation
centers and health centers.

When asked which steps were most necessary for Jakarta, he
said all 10 criteria should be implemented quickly and properly.

"Jakarta is a metropolitan city with complex problems. I say
that the government must work on all of the 10 conditions to
create a better city."

He said if Jakarta failed to work toward creating a healthy
city now, it would probably turn into a necropolis or city for
the dead.

"Population is the main problem here. The average population
growth rate in every big city, including Jakarta, is about 4.4
percent each year.

"This is crazy because it may later lead to more slum areas in
this city and the consequence we are already experienced:
environmental health degradation."

The Jakarta administration has launched various programs in a
bid to create a healthy city, including the Blue Sky program for
air pollution control and the Clean River program to remove
illegal dwellers from the riverbanks.

"But I admit running one of these projects is not easy, as
many violations occur. Therefore, the authorities should also
impose severe penalties on violators," Abednego said.

Among the speakers at the seminar, which will conclude
tomorrow, are environmentalist Andrzej Wojczak from Japan and Ton
Van Naerssen from The Netherlands. (edt)