SBY: Avoid unsafe sex, drugs

SBY: Avoid unsafe sex, drugs

Slamet Susanto and Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on the nation to
avoid drugs, free sex and smoking as part of a healthy lifestyle
campaign he launched on Friday.

"Let's make a healthy life part of our lifestyle," the
President said at the commemoration of National Health Day held
at the Prambanan Hindu temple complex east of Yogyakarta.

"A healthy life can be achieved through regular exercise, good
nutrition, breast feeding for infants, the use of clean water,
good sanitation, and by staying away from narcotics, free sex and
smoking," Susilo said.

While underscoring the danger of smoking to health, the
President looked around and asked if there were any cigarette
producers in the audience.

"Are there any representatives of Gudang Garam, Djarum and
Sampoerna with us here?" Susilo, who is a non-smoker, asked, to
the laughter of the audience, referring to the country's major
cigarette makers.

In the front row of the audience was Yogyakarta's Governor
Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, whose family runs a cigarette company.
Its product, Kraton Dalem brand, is sold around Yogyakarta and
Central Java.

Among the audience were regents and mayors who have won
government awards for their efforts in promoting health and
improving health care for their people.

Excise collected from cigarette companies contributes around
Rp 25 trillion (US$2.7 billion) to state revenues annually.

National Health Day falls on Nov. 12, but this year's
commemoration took place on Friday due to the President's busy
schedule that included overseas trips to Santiago and Vientiane
to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and Association
of Southeast Asia Nations summits.

In his speech, Susilo also promised to build more health
centers in remote and poor areas to make health care more
accessible to the needy.

The government, he said, would provide people in outlying
regions with more medical workers and cheap, quality medicines.

"In the long run, when our economy has grown to a higher
level, everybody will enjoy free health care," the President
said.

The commemoration was marked by the launch of the Combo DTP-
Hepatitis B vaccine.

Earlier, Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari presented
Ksatria Bakti Husada awards to 40 regency and municipal
administrations, and Manggala Karya Bakti awards to regents and
mayors for improving the quality of health for people within
their jurisdictions.

National Health Day originated from the national campaign
against malaria launched by founding president Sukarno back in
1959.