JAKARTA - The World Malaria Day moment which is commemorated every April 25 is an important reminder that this infectious disease is still a health challenge in Indonesia. Taking advantage of this momentum, a free health screening initiative was held to strengthen public awareness in preventing early transmission.
The activities which took place in Yogyakarta targeted more than 150 residents, especially from the Dusun Mudal, Sariharjo area. The main focus is to provide in-depth understanding of the threat of malaria, a disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite through the intermediary of female Anopheles mosquitoes.
Present as a speaker, dr. Sri Haryati, MKK, emphasized that the key to reducing the number of cases is public awareness. He explained that the symptoms of malaria are often similar to ordinary fever, so the public needs to be more observant.
"People must recognize the classic symptoms, such as high fever that appears periodically, chills, severe headache, nausea, to the condition of the body that feels very weak," said Dr. Sri Haryati quoted by VOI from a media broadcast, Sunday, April 26.
In addition to recognizing symptoms, he also shared simple preventive steps that can be taken at home. Starting from regularly draining puddles, maintaining environmental cleanliness, to using mosquito nets and mosquito repellent to avoid bites at night.
Andrew Susanto, President Commissioner of the Holywings Group and Chairman of the Holywings Care Program and as the initiator of this social activity, explained that the action aims to provide a tangible impact on the quality of grassroots community health. According to him, direct education is much more effective to accelerate the target of eliminating malaria nationally.
"We hope that through this health check and talk show activities, residents can be more concerned about their own health and the environment. This is our effort to bridge the access between professional medical personnel and the community directly," said Andrew.
Not only getting education about malaria, the residents who attended also took advantage of the free health examination facility. This service includes checking uric acid levels, cholesterol, blood sugar, to complete blood tests.
Sumarni (40), one of the participants, admitted that he felt very helpful. "It is very useful because you can check your health for free. The explanation about malaria is also important, so we know what to do at home for prevention," he said.
Through this social movement, it is hoped that public awareness of clean and healthy lifestyles (PHBS) will continue to increase, as well as being a tangible step in supporting the government in breaking the chain of malaria transmission in various regions of Indonesia.
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