"Eye health also influences the individual quality and community productivity," the ministry's Director of Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases, Eva Susanti, noted in a written statement on Friday.
Hence, she reminded the public to beware and prevent vision problems in an effort to maintain their daily activity and productivity.
"(This is) especially (important) for office workers, who are accustomed to staring at screens for long periods of time, every day. Interventions must be carried out as early as possible," she noted.
Susanti stated that data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) in 2023 recorded the number of working Indonesian citizens had reached 138.63 million. This means that around half of Indonesia's population is at risk of vision problems at the workplace, both in the formal and informal sectors.
According to Susanti, dissemination of education must be conducted on a massive scale along with support from stakeholders in the workplace through early detection of vision problems for workers to minimize risk factors from eye problems.
One of the educational efforts made by the Ministry of Health is to commemorate World Sight Day that is celebrated every second Thursday of October every year.
"The commemoration of World Sight Day is also intended to encourage policymakers in the workplace to be concerned about their employee's eye health, including conducting early detection of vision problems for employees," she remarked.
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In addition, Deputy Chair III of the Association of Indonesian Ophthalmologists, Dr. Trilaksana, shared several tips for good posture while working with computers.
The first tip is to ensure the seating position is comfortable, while the second recommendation is maintaining a distance of 40-75 centimeters between the eyes and computer screen. The third advice is to use a computer radiation protection filter.
It is additionally important to ensure that the tilt between the computer screen and the eyes is a maximum of 20 degrees, while the fifth tip is placing materials strategically to reduce head movement.
"Sixth, ensure sufficient lighting, and seventh, blink the eyes periodically to prevent irritation," Trilaksana remarked.
He also recommends applying the 20:20:20 method while working to prevent eye strain. The method suggests that after 20 minutes on the computer, a person should spend 20 seconds focusing on an object that is at least 20 feet, or six meters, away, which helps in relaxing the eye muscles.
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Translator: Sean Filo M, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Copyright © ANTARA 2023
