Minister Of Health: Must Maintain Life Balance To Create A Healthy Environment

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin/DOC PR MINISTRY OF HEALTH

JAKARTA - Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin said every element in society must maintain a balance of life with other living things such as animals and plants in order to create a healthy environment.

"If we focus too much on fulfilling the interests of human life, we forget to maintain the balance of our environment, we only exploit existing plants and animals to meet human needs, an imbalance will definitely occur," said Budi, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, November 30.

Budi said that based on research conducted by America, it was stated that six out of 10 infectious diseases in humans originate from animals, with details of three out of four new infections being carried or transmitted by animals. Of the 8 billion people affected by diseases that originate from these animals, 2.7 million people die every year.

Meanwhile, in the case of diseases originating from animals in Indonesia, the Minister of Health said that Indonesia is still struggling with four diseases originating from mosquitoes such as dengue fever, malaria, filariasis (infection caused by filarial worms), and zika (infection originating from zika virus and spread by mosquito bites).

Based on data from the Ministry of Health, in cases of diseases such as filariasis, only 32 out of 514 districts or cities have entered the elimination stage, while as many as 236 districts or cities have entered an endemic period for the disease.

Seeing the low achievement of urban districts that are free from one of the diseases caused by mosquitoes, he suggested that regions that have many cases of these diseases should follow the example of regions that have succeeded in reducing the number of cases.

"Our task at the Ministry of Health is to ensure the dissemination of what Tidore's friends and friends in Banten have done to all other regencies and cities," he said.

The Minister of Health also suggested that the government should record areas that have succeeded in controlling the mosquito-borne disease and conduct interviews with regents and mayors to review the programs carried out so that they can be transmitted to other areas.

“Instead of making something new, it's better to just imitate them. So all successful cities must have their own tactics, their own good programs to emulate,” said Budi.

By implementing pilot programs to other regions, Budi hopes that this can re-balance the activities carried out by the community with the nature around them, so that diseases originating from animals do not affect the health of the population in Indonesia.

“I believe that humans must maintain a balance of life and their environment with all living creatures created by Him. Be it flora and fauna for our common health, as well as the health of the world. Maybe in the future, the health of the universe will depend on our collective activities,” said Budi.