"Health cadres are playing a strategic role in ensuring that education regarding PTM is well-delivered to the community because they live among the people," the ministry's director of health promotion and community empowerment, drg. Widyawati, said during an online discussion on Monday.
Cadres from integrated health posts (posyandu) and the heads of community health services (puskesmas) in all districts/cities need to disseminate health education and early detection of non-communicable diseases to the public, she added.
"Posyandu does not only focus on services for babies, toddlers, and the elderly. It also needs to fulfill its role in health promotion and prevention," she said.
Even though PTMs do not spread from one individual to another, they still pose a serious problem in the health sector since they are the biggest contributors to mortality globally and nationally, she informed.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2017, PTMs caused around 40 million or 70 percent of the 56 million deaths in the world, while 52 percent of the deaths were recorded in people aged under 70, she noted.
Meanwhile, based on basic health research in 2018, cases of PTMs, such as cancer, stroke, and kidney disease, continued to increase compared to previous years, Widyawati disclosed.
"Promotive and preventive efforts are needed to control PTM cases in Indonesia. We hope PHBS can help to suppress the number of PTM cases," she said.
Some healthy behaviors included in PHBS are frequently consuming fruits and vegetables, avoiding smoking, exercising regularly, using clean water, washing hands in running water with soap, breastfeeding the baby, and using proper latrine.
Widyawati also emphasized the importance of modifying the risk factors for non-communicable diseases, which have become a bad habit for most Indonesians.
"Promotive and preventive measures need to be carried out in the form of stopping smoking and drinking alcohol, fixing unhealthy eating patterns, and starting to exercise more. Lack of physical activity can lead to overweight and increase blood pressure, blood sugar level, and cholesterol," she added.
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Translator: Lintang Budiyanti P, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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