Government begins drive to make country healthy

Government begins drive to make country healthy

JAKARTA (JP): The government launched on Wednesday a
comprehensive health promotion drive to achieve the goals of the
Healthy Indonesia 2010 program.

The director general of public health at the Ministry of
Health and Social Welfare, Azrul Azwar, said during a media
conference that when it came to health, Indonesia performed
poorly compared to other countries.

Citing a World Health Organization (WHO) report from 2000,
Azrul said Indonesia ranked 97th out of 175 countries in health
development.

In its health promotion efforts, Azrul said his office had set
out three main strategies, including lobbying decision makers to
focus greater attention on health issues.

In addition, the health ministry will disseminate information
to the public to help support the health promotion program, as
well as pursuing efforts to empower the people in the area of
health.

"The community should no longer be objects; they must become
the subjects in this promotion program. Therefore, the community
will take an active role in improving their health and the
cleanliness of their environment," Azrul said.

Also attending the media conference was Desmond O'Byrne from
the WHO headquarters in Geneva. He said promoting public health
was like an investment, because a healthy environment could
attract business and tourists. Therefore, he said, the issue
should not be handled by the government alone.

Azrul said the program would be expanded to cover all
ministries and government agencies so that it would reach a wider
audience.

He noted that his office was introducing a new paradigm of
health promotion, in which the people would be active
participants in the protection of public health.

The chairman of the Indonesian Society for Health Studies and
Promotion, Hadi Pratomo, said that not only the community but
also those involved in the health industry should adopt this new
paradigm.

As part of this new paradigm in promoting public health, Hadi,
a physician, said he would now not only ask his patients to stop
smoking to improve their health, but would also take part in
campaigns to reduce smoking.

"Under the new paradigm, I will also try to change the
environments of my patients that can encourage them to begin
smoking again.

"I will also take part in a campaign to reduce cigarettes
advertisements, to increase cigarette taxes or to prohibit
smoking in certain locations," he said. (bby)