Child doctors to make Jakarta a healthier city
Child doctors to make Jakarta a healthier city
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
With her bright eyes looking straight at the audience, 10-year-
old Garnis faultlessly answered all the questions posed regarding
her duties as a "child doctor".
"I will always remind my friends to keep our surroundings
clean so that we don't catch any diseases. For example, I will
warn them if I see them littering," the fifth-grade student of
the Tarsisius elementary school in Menteng, Central Jakarta, said
to the city's deputy governor, Fauzi Bowo.
Fauzi officially launched the "training course" for the child
doctors on Thursday at State Elementary School No. 1 in
Gondangdia, Central Jakarta.
Wearing a doctor's white coat, Garnis and 119 other students
from fourth, fifth, and sixth grades were present to witness the
start of the training course. They were representing 600 child
doctors attending 90 schools in Jakarta's five municipalities.
All of them will receive two weeks of training on healthy
lifestyles, disease prevention, including eating clean and
healthy food to prevent diarrhea, and good sanitary practices,
such as keeping restrooms and their surroundings clean.
Trained teenagers from the Jakarta Youth Red Cross and doctors
from the Jakarta Health Agency will help provide training to the
children.
German multinational PT Beiersdorf Indonesia, which produces
medical and beauty products, such as Hansaplast and Nivea, is
sponsoring the program.
"We hope that this small contribution can help elementary
school students increase their knowledge on healthy lifestyles
and basic medical prevention measures, as well as encourage other
schools to join the program," PT Beiersdorf president director
Juergen Rohlfshagen said.
Fauzi, who is also the chief patron of the School Health Unit
Program in Jakarta, said that the Child Doctor Program was aimed
at educating children from the very beginning about how to
prevent the transmission of communicable diseases.
Although the program was originally launched back in 1980, it
faced many challenges, including a lack of funding and attention,
said Fauzi. But that was all about to change now, he added.
"With a number of communicable diseases threatening Jakarta,
the Child Doctor Program will make children aware of prevention
measures right from the very beginning. We hope the kids will
help us make Jakarta a healthier place in which to live," he
said.
Jakarta is periodically hit by a number of deadly diseases,
including dengue fever and cholera, as well as regular diarrhea
outbreaks that claim the lives of many children every year.
Experts have said that many Jakartans fall ill because of poor
sanitation and unhealthy lifestyles.
The latest deadly disease to have emerged here is the human
variant of bird flu, which claimed the lives of a father and his
two daughters in Tangerang.
Currently, around 62 percent out of a total of 3,252
elementary schools in Jakarta have enrolled in the Child Doctor
Program. There are 25,830 child doctors in the capital.
"I want to be a doctor someday so that I can help people who
are sick. Right now, I will try to help my friends to stay clean
and healthy," said child doctor Fikri, 10, from the host school.