Day: October 8, 2021

The Health Ministry commemorated the 2021 World Mental Health Day by conducting some activities to raise awareness of policy makers and the public about mental health.

“Indeed, we have prepared several series of activities to commemorate World Mental Health Day. This aims to increase awareness of all of us, both from policy makers across programs, across sectors, and public in general,” sub-coordinator of the substance of mental health problems for children and adolescents at the Ministry of Health, Juzi Delianna, said.

This year, the theme decided by the World Federation of Mental Health is ‘Equality in Mental Health for All’, which emphasizes that there is inequality in access to mental health services due to racial and ethnic differences, she said at an online talk in Jakarta on Friday.

This is also caused by the lack of respect for human rights in a number of countries, including the unequal treatment of people with mental disorders, Delianna continued.

She said her office has conducted a public campaign by organizing a poster competition themed “Human Rights Related to People With Mental Disorders”. The competition was open to the general public and participants were separated based on age.

The Health Ministry also held a public service free safari, targeting people with mental health problems in three districts of Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara province—Manggarai, West Manggarai, and East Manggarai, Delianna said.

The activities were hosted in collaboration with the local Health Office, Social Office, mental hospitals, related professional organizations, and the public, she added.

“We also held a workshop that invited a number of cross-ministerial, mental health professional organizations, academics and communities, then there was a media meeting, a bloggers meeting that was held yesterday,” Delianna said.

The ministry has provided a forum for discussion through national television and radio to promote and educate the general public about mental health, she added.

She said her office also conducted a three-part webinar series on mental health, from September 30 to October 1, 2021. The webinar series were aimed at millennial teenagers to adults, she informed.

The Health Ministry will hold an event on October 10, 2021 at a mental hospital in Solo, Central Java, he informed. In the upcoming event, those who are committed to providing mental health services for the community will be rewarded, she said.

“We will give awards to parties who have a strong commitment to improve and make innovations in providing mental health services for the community,” Delianna added.

Source: Antara News

The anxiety disorder rate in Indonesia has risen by 6.8 percent amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an official of the Ministry of Health.

“Recent research conducted by the Health Research and Development Agency of the Ministry of Health found an around 6.8-percent increase in anxiety disorders,” Sub-Coordinator for Children and Adolescents’ Mental Health Problems at the Ministry of Health Dr. Juzi Delianna, M. Epid stated during a discussion monitored online here Friday.

Apart from an increase in the cases of anxiety disorder, the doctor noted that an 8.5-percent increase was recorded in cases of depression.

According to the Health Ministry’s data, during 2020, as many as 18,373 people were diagnosed with anxiety disorder, over 23 thousand people experienced depression, and 1,193 people had attempted suicide.

Meanwhile, data from the Indonesian Psychiatrists Association (PDKJI) recorded that in the first five months of the COVID-19 pandemic, most psychological problems were found in people aged 17-29 years and older adults aged over 60 years.

Director for Prevention and Control of Mental Health and Drug Problems at the Ministry of Health, Celestinus Eigya Munthe, remarked that in order to overcome mental health problems, his side had made efforts, so that all public health centers (puskesmas) can provide mental health services.

However, out of some 10 thousand public health centers, only about six thousand public health centers in the country had provided mental health services due to the lack of human resources and adequate infrastructure.

According to Munthe, mental health services provided at public health centers could be covered by the National Health Insurance (JKN) owned by the Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan).

He also informed that people can be referred to mental hospitals if the public health center was unable to offer adequate mental health services.

To facilitate the provision of mental health services amid the pandemic, Munthe spoke of his side also making the medicines required by patients available at public health centers.

“Currently, we are encouraging almost all mental hospitals in Indonesia to have telecounseling mobile applications to maximize their efforts in providing counseling services to the community,” Munthe affirmed.

Source: Antara News

The Jayawijaya district administration in Papua province is still facing a shortage of general practitioners and pharmacists, according to head of the district’s Health Office, Willy Mambieuw.

“As a result, several community health centers still have no general practitioners and pharmacists at all,” he said in Wamena, the capital of Jayawijaya district, on Friday.

Each of the public health centers must have a general practitioner and a specialist doctor, he said, adding that the district has 27 public health centers spread across 40 sub-districts.

To cope with the shortage of full-time general practitioners and pharmacists at several community health centers, Mambieuw said his office is temporarily employing contract healthcare workers.

At the same time, he said, he has sent a request to the district government for recruiting full-time general practitioners at local community health centers.

ANTARA has reported how the security and safety of medical workers in Papua has become a serious issue in the light of the deaths of a doctor during deadly rioting in Wamena on September 2019 and a healthcare worker in Kiwirok sub-district, Pegunungan Bintang district on September 13, 2021.

The Indonesian Medical Association (IDI)-Papua chapter recently appealed to the Papua administration and the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police (Polri) to guarantee the security and safety of all healthcare workers across the province.

The guarantee is a must to ensure the sustainability of medical and healthcare services for Papuan communities all over the province, IDI-Papua chapter chairperson, Donald Aronggear, said in a statement.

The organization urged the Papua administration to coordinate with regional governments as well as religious, customary, and community leaders to ensure the safety of all health workers in Papua.

In September 2019, 53-year-old doctor Soeko Marsetiyo was killed in a deadly riot that broke out in Wamena, the capital of Jayawijaya district.

Following Soeko’s death, several doctors at the Wamena public hospital had asked to leave the hospital for security reasons.

Then, on September 13, 2021, a deadly assault launched by the Lamek Tablo-led separatist terrorist group on several public facilities, including a public health center, and homes in Kiwirok led to the death of a female healthcare worker, identified as Gabriela Meilan.

Source: Antara News

Chairman of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Bambang Soesatyo has called on the Indonesian government to remain optimistic in attaining herd immunity or the target of vaccinating 70 percent of the population.

“Hence, the government should continue the efforts to expedite vaccinations and increase the national vaccination coverage by vaccinating 2.5 million people per day,” Soesatyo noted in his statement here, Friday.

The speaker called to strengthen synergy between the government, the Indonesian Military (TNI), and National Police (Polri) in expediting COVID-19 vaccinations in regions, especially those with low vaccination coverage.

In addition, Soesatyo urged the government to innovate in finding solutions to identify and overcome obstacles that hinder the national vaccination program.

“I urge the government to increase the number of vaccination booths, increase mass vaccinations, or directly visit those, who have not been vaccinated. These are needed in order to achieve the target of vaccinating 70 percent of the population to achieve community immunity,” the MPR speaker remarked.

Soesatyo sought the regional governments’ commitment to supporting the national vaccination program and continually conducting comprehensive data collection on the COVID-19 vaccination coverage in all regions, so that areas, with low vaccination coverage, can be prioritized.

In a bid to boost immunity against COVID-19, the Indonesian government has launched a nationwide vaccination program on January 13, 2021, and President Joko Widodo was the first vaccine recipient under the program.

The central government has set a target to vaccinate at least 70 percent of the Indonesian population by December 2021.

According to the Health Ministry’s data, as of October 8, 2021, as many as 98,382,941 citizens have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, while 56,267,095 Indonesians have been fully vaccinated.

Source: Antara News

Sexual violence cases involving children should be handled in a transparent manner, People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Deputy Speaker Lestari Moerdijat has said.

“Various acts of sexual violence against children are criminal activities that should be stopped immediately, considering their impact can reverberate into the future,” she said in a written statement released here on Friday.

Moerdijat delivered the statement in response to a case involving the alleged rape of three children by their father in East Luwu, South Sulawesi. She expressed her greatest sympathy with the victims.

Cases of child sexual violence are quite complicated since they usually involve people who are known to the victim, she said.

She pressed all parties involved in the handling of sexual violence cases involving children to put forth facts in a transparent manner to aid fair and accurate decision-making.

In addition to transparency, the handling of child sexual violence cases should also prioritize the protection of victims, she said. The discussion surrounding Sexual Violence Criminal Act Bill (RUU-TPKS) is expected to be completed promptly to help victims’ assert their rights, she added.

The RUU-TPKS will serve as an instrument to provide legal assurance, so that the state can play an active role in protecting the rights of sexual violence victims, Moerdijat explained.

Based on data from the Women and Children Protection Online Information System (Simfoni PPA), 5,463 cases of violence against children were recorded in Indonesia as of July 2021. Of these cases, around 5,198 happened within the confines of homes, Moerdijat noted.

The high number of sexual violence cases and issues in handling them should encourage legislators in the parliament to ratify the RUU-TPKS, she added.

She said she hoped that stakeholders would improve their efforts for preventing and handling child sexual violence cases.

Source: Antara News

Weightlifter Deni said he is planning to return home to Bogor, West Java to focus on becoming a weightlifting coach after declaring his retirement at the 20th PON at Papua.

“At home, I (want) to build a small training ground so that weightlifting becomes more popular and to the same degree as badminton and football,” Deni told Antara at the auditorium of Cenderawasih University, Jayapura district on Friday.

Deni, who competed in the men’s 67-kg event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, has pioneered a career as a weightlifting coach by opening training classes in Bogor.

He said he has decided to retire after feeling satisfied with the silver medal he won at the 26th SEA Games.

He recorded a snatch of 143 kg and clean and jerk of 172kg at the event. “Those are my highest achievements,” he said.

His removing his shoes on the stage during the men’s 67-kg event at PON Papua marked the conclusion of his career as a lifter, he added.

He made the decision to retire after competing with Olympics weightlifters Eko Yuli Irawan (East Java) and Triyatno (East Kalimantan) on Wednesday (October 6, 2021) at PON Papua.

Deni, who represented Bengkulu, had to settle for a bronze medal after lifting a total weight of 303kg (137kg in snatch and 166kg in clean and jerk).

He said a muscle injury on his right leg, which he believes would take long to recover, was another factor that motivated him to retire.

“I am done! Let it speak. I noticed an injury to my right leg even before I participated in the Olympics,” Deni said after competing in the PON Papua final.

He complained of persistent leg pain, saying it spread to the joints. “It is like being electrocuted,” he added.

He said the injury caused him to buckle on stage after lifting a 166kg barbell in the clean and jerk discipline.

“The coach said, whatever happens at the third lift even to the point of sprawling, I have to fight it,” he remarked.

Source: Antara News

The RTS,S vaccine recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) has been found effective in preventing malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum parasite, a researcher from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) has said.

“The RTS,S vaccine is only for malaria caused by Plasmodium (P) falciparum, but for other species that cause malaria, it has not yet been proven effective,” Arif Nurkanto told ANTARA here on Friday.

Currently, malaria cases are primarily caused by P falciparum, so the discovery of a vaccine is good news for those making efforts to mitigate malaria, he remarked. However, the vaccine will not necessarily be effective against other types of malaria parasites, he said.

For instance, in Indonesia, there are also cases of malaria caused by another parasite, namely the Plasmodium vivax, he added.

Nurkanto expressed the hope that the vaccine would prove useful for preventing malaria caused by P vivax. But treating malaria caused by P vivax would require a more specific vaccine, he admitted.

In addition to vaccination, an elimination program should be conducted along with malaria vector control since malaria has remained a global problem, particularly in the tropical and sub-Saharan region for more than 150 years, he said.

The WHO has recommended widespread use of RTS,S/AS01 or RTS,S malaria vaccine for children in sub-Saharan Africa and in other regions with moderate to high infection rate of P falciparum malaria.

This recommendation is based on the results of a pilot program being conducted in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi involving more than 800 thousand children since 2019.

“This is a historic moment. The long-awaited malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough for science, child health, and malaria control,” WHO’s director general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, affirmed on WHO’s official website, which was accessed by ANTARA on Friday.

“Using this vaccine on top of existing tools to prevent malaria could save tens of thousands of young lives each year,” he remarked.

Source: Antara News

To prevent COVID-19 transmission, medical personnel must conduct regular swab tests on athletes and officials at the Papua National Sports Week (PON), Head of the Merauke Health Office dr. Nevile Muskita has said.

According to Muskita, such steps should be taken, especially since five PON athletes and officials have tested positive for COVID-19 in Merauke as of October 5, 2021.

“Those who are tested positive are from Jayapura, East Java, Yogyakarta, and Central Kalimantan. If we look at the time, I think they were infected in their hometown,” Muskita said as quoted by InfoPublik on Friday.

Aside from regularly conducting testing, he said that it is essential for Merauke residents to consistently comply with the health protocols.

“It is even better to get vaccinated soon because the vaccine strengthens our immunity. Therefore, even if you get infected by the virus, your condition can still be helped. Let’s ensure that after PON, there will be no new clusters formed, and the situation in Merauke will remain safe,” he added.

Earlier, an official from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Asep Chaerudin, affirmed that the Central COVID-19 Handling Task Force, along with the task forces of Jayapura city, Jayapura district, Mimika district, as well as Merauke district, have been educating the public about the health protocols since before PON XX started.

He informed that to raise public awareness on health protocols, the agency has distributed 1,125,173 pieces of masks as of October 6, 2021.

The XX Papua National Sports Week (PON) 2021 is being held from October 2 to October 15, 2021. At least 6,400 athletes and 3,500 officials from 34 provinces across Indonesia are participating in the National Games, which feature 37 sports.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) officially opened the event at the Lukas Enembe Stadium, Sentani, Jayapura, Papua, on Saturday (October 2, 2021). However, competitions for some sports had started earlier, in the middle of September 2021.

Source: Antara News