“A health check-up is one of the pillars of Germas, which aims to earlier find out if someone has health problems," deputy for the coordination of health quality improvement and population development at the ministry, Agus Suprapto, said here on Thursday.
The government has continued to improve public education about Germas as one of the strategies for controlling non-communicable diseases, he added.
Germas involves seven pillars or acts—performing physical exercise, consuming fruits and vegetables, not smoking, not consuming alcoholic beverages, undergoing regular health examinations, keeping the environment clean, and using latrines to defecate/urinate.
Regarding health examinations, Suprapto asked people to get their blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol, among others, checked to review their health condition.
"World Heart Day, which is celebrated every September 29, can be a momentum to raise awareness about the need to have regular check-ups, one of which is a cardiovascular exam for the heart," he said.
The ministry is also campaigning about the importance of controlling risk factors to prevent non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, he pointed out.
Risk factors that cannot be controlled or changed include family history, age, and sex, he pointed out.
Meanwhile, risk factors that can be controlled are hypertension, smoking, diabetes, obesity, lack of physical activity, consumption of alcoholic beverages, and stress.
"Education to the public about these risk factors (should) continue to be strengthened in the community through local health centers, integrated health posts, and health cadres in each region to increase public awareness and understanding," he said.
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Translator: Wuryanti P, Kenzu T
Editor: Suharto
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