Respiratory diseases number one killer in Indonesia
Respiratory diseases number one killer in Indonesia
Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Respiratory diseases have become the number one killer in
Indonesia, up from number three in 1997 and number six in 1993,
an expert says.
Pulmonologist Ida Bernida said on Thursday that air pollution
had worsened in the past decade, exacerbating respiratory
diseases, including tuberculosis (TBC), asthma, lung cancer,
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and pneumonia.
"An increase in the number of smokers, particularly among
women and youths, and forests fires have only worsened air
pollution in the country," Ida told The Jakarta Post Thursday.
He said cardiovascular diseases and cancer were the number two
and three killers respectively.
To make things worse, Indonesia, the world's fourth most
populous nation, had only 500 pulmologists across the country.
This means one pulmonologist was in charge of 420,000 people, for
above the ideal number of 10,000.
Another pulmonologist, Manaldi Rasmin, said up to 40 percent
of the deaths in the country were caused by respiratory diseases.
Both Ida and Manaldi, however, failed to provide data on the
number of deaths.
Jakarta is now the third worst city in terms of air pollution
after Mexico and Bangkok.
The number of smokers in the country is the fourth largest in
the world, while for forests fire Indonesia becomes number one
now, according to Menaldi.
Changing lifestyle and patient's habits to find self-
medication, including antibiotics as well as low awareness on
continued medication have also caused respiratory diseases to
become so deadly.
"Some people buy medicine without a doctor's prescription and
consume them without following the suggested dosage. In some
cases that would make the disease even worse," said Menaldi.
"In most respiratory diseases, a patient needs continued
medication for a certain period until they are cured but some
people just stop it when they feel better".
For TBC, Indonesia is now has the highest rate of infection
after India and China.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are
about 175,000 deaths from TBC every year in Indonesia and the
number is increasing.
Meanwhile for asthma, Menaldi said about 6 percent of
Indonesians suffered from the chronic disease. Most cases
happened in big cities where the air pollution was relatively
high.
"Vehicle emissions, cigarette smoke, and industrial smoke are
easily found in big cities such as Jakarta. One of every 10
junior high school students in Jakarta has asthma," he said.