"The President and I have paid a lot of attention to the sanitation development. This is serious problem facing many nations in the world," the First Lady said when receiving participants of the National Sanitation Jamboree at the State Palace, here, on Friday.
The lack of sanitation awareness could create serious problems to the efforts to improve the health and welfare of the people of Indonesia which has a total population of 248 million, she said.
"The sanitation awareness is still low and it is considered not important. When the environment is contaminated, it could cause deaths," she stated.
Bad sanitation could trigger diseases such as diarrhea, she said. Despite the fact the number of diarrhea cases has decreased from 423 per 1,000 people to 411 per 1,000, the government will reduce it further until 2014, Ani Yudhoyono said.
With good sanitation, the clean water supplied will be guaranteed, according to her.
The central government has asked the regional governments through governors, mayors and district heads to promote sanitation improvement, she added.
(P008/F001)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
