Ministry warns of pneumonia outbreak

Ministry warns of pneumonia outbreak

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Health warned Wednesday of the
danger of a pneumonia outbreak especially among children under
five in the transition to the rainy season.

"Pneumonia is among top ranking diseases which have claimed
many lives of children here... but people do not realize it.
Other diseases such as dengue fever or diarrhea attract more
attention," the ministry's director general of communicable
disease control Achmad Sujudi, said.

Diarrhea, followed by pneumonia, he said are the two major
causes of death among under-fives, though he could not give
recent figures.

"Bad weather along with the high rate of air pollution here
easily lead to children suffering from respiratory illnesses,"
Achmad added.

He said parents should be alert and immediately seek medical
check ups if the following symptoms of pneumonia appear: Babies
under two months old breathing faster than 60 times per minute;
babies aged between two months and one year breathing more than
50 times per minute and children above one year old more than 40
times per minute.

"The other signs are wheezing and a continuous cough and cold.
Babies who suffer from pneumonia usually draw the diaphragm deep
inside when inhaling," Achmad said.

In urban areas he said children were more vulnerable to
pneumonia, given the pollution.

According to the ministry's latest data, in 1996 there were
274,291 cases of pneumonia among under-fives.

"We cannot reveal the latest data yet, but in 1995 there were
150,000 Indonesian under-fives who died of pneumonia," Achmad
noted.

"People, especially mothers, do not realize that pneumonia is
a serious problem. Actually with proper treatment, it can be
cured.

"But many parents think pneumonia symptoms are merely those of
the common cold when children have trouble breathing. They only
give them simple medicine suitable for cold-sufferers. Poor
families buy unprescribed drugs from kiosks," Achmad noted.

A 1997 health survey by the ministry revealed that 22 percent
of children under five who suffered from respiratory illnesses
would be treated by their own parents or guardians, while 8
percent of such children were not taken for medical treatment and
1 percent were treated by traditional healers.

"We hope parents start taking this problem seriously," Achmad
added.

Separately, the ministry of health along with other ministries
announced Wednesday a plan to set up a "healthy living paradigm
program" to involve families in a bid to anticipate various
problems created by the prolonged crisis.

"Health here... is also related to mental, social,
psychological and intelligence aspects," Minister of Health Farid
Anfasa Moeloek said after a ministers' coordination meeting on
poverty eradication.

"We want to start addressing the problems at the core, which
is the family." Problems such as student brawls and clashes
should be traced to an imbalance of the above aspects, which
could be overcome by reaching out to people through families, he
added.

"Hopefully with family and community rebuilding, tensions and
emotional problems which lead to rioting and unrest may be
reduced," Farid said, adding specific details of the scheme were
not yet available. Funding was unclear yet, but he said sources
did not include the safety net program. (edt)