"The problem of diabetes is right in front of our eyes. Thus, it needs serious attention of all parties," she noted during the "Beware of Diabetes in Productive Age" online discussion on Wednesday, according to a statement received here on Thursday.
Moerdijat called to anticipate and pay attention to this threat, so that the demographic dividend does not turn into a burden.
Moreover, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) records, the highest number of diabetes cases is the Type 2 Diabetes that can be prevented through proper health understanding and efforts.
"This condition must be a (matter of) concern, especially since diabetes affects people of the productive age," she remarked.
Moerdijat encouraged stakeholders to be active in carrying out preventive measures through several relevant policies to maximize the benefits of the demographic dividend towards the achievement of the Golden Indonesia 2045 vision.
Moreover, she underlined the need to encourage movements for the improvement of people's health that can be carried out through education and improvement of health services through an integrated health system.
The discussion featured several speakers, including Director of Non-Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control at the Ministry of Health, Eva Susanti.
According to Susanti, readiness to realize the demographic dividend must be followed by efforts to build healthy generations.
She noted that currently, the number of diabetes cases in Southeast Asia stood at 90.2 million. She remarked that the figure will continue to increase if no efforts are made to control the risk factors.
She stated that people's lifestyles, such as smoking, lack of physical activities, and inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables, can increase the risks of getting diabetes.
Hence, she encouraged people to check their blood sugar at least once a month to know their blood sugar level.
Susanti also assessed that the government has taken preventive steps through early detection in the health service system and management of diabetes sufferers.
Strengthening financing for national health insurance is also deemed able to support several diabetes prevention and treatment efforts.
Furthermore, she encourages the regulation that requires nutritional information to be included on food packaging to be consistently enforced, while the public is called on to pay heed to the information.
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Translator: Fath Putra, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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