Malnutrition, a dirty word for local officials

The Jakarta Post, Saturday, April 29, 2006

Social workers say they’re alarmed by local administrators’ lack of interest in the problem of malnutrition, claiming the problem is being muzzled in the name of politics.

Subdistrict heads often refuse to acknowledge the existence of poorly-fed children, they said. Some even go as far as forbidding social workers to mention the word “malnutrition” in reports, a social worker from the Healthy Indonesia Foundation, Leny H.R., told a media forum Thursday organized by the Coalition for a Healthy Indonesia.

“Maybe they’re afraid of how a public acknowledgment like this would affect their careers,” she said.

The lack of government support has forced Leny herself to treat 20 malnourished children under two years old in the Mulyaharja subdistrict, Bogor Selatan district, Bogor.

“Luckily some private donors have come up and provided funding for the 20 children for three months, until the end of April,” she added, explaining that the donors provided milk, biscuits, and Rp 50,000 (about US$5.7) a day for food.

Leny said that she would have to find new sources of funding to continue the treatment for the next three months.

“It’s shameful that they (the local administrations) won’t acknowledge a major problem like this,” the head of the Health Ministry’s nutrition alert division, Tatang S. Falah, said in the media forum.

He said the Health Ministry’s policy was for people to report even one incidence of malnutrition to the nearest health institution or worker in their area, within 24 hours of discovery.

“Because it may not be an isolated occurrence, we treat that particular case, but we also immediately investigate the area for similar cases,” Tatang said.

The ministry recorded a prevalence rate of 23.2 percent for malnutrition in West Java in 2003, and 21.53 percent in Jakarta.

Tatang said one of the most effective, cheapest ways to detect early signs of malnutrition in a population was to rejuvenate the role of public health clinics (puskesmas) and integrated health services posts (posyandu).

One of the services at a posyandu is to regularly weigh infants, checking to see whether they’ve reached the appropriate weight for their age. If a child has not gained sufficient weight after two weighing sessions, he or she is immediately reported to puskesmas or a hospital for further consultation and treatment.

“People usually only go to posyandu for vaccination programs for their babies and toddlers, when these places are in fact very important to catch the first indications of malnutrition,” Tatang said.

Air pollution increases health risk

The Jakarta Post, Friday, April 7, 2006

Whether inside the air-conditioned comfort of a private car, or a stuffy mass transit vehicle, Jakartans should avoid traffic jams at all costs if they value their health, according to a new study.

Research conducted by the University of Indonesia’s School of Community Health between April and October of last year found that the health risks from air pollution increase significantly when people are stuck in traffic jams. It also found being inside an enclosed air-conditioned car does not help.

“It’s true that the level of particulate matter is lower when you’re inside an air-conditioned car, but the level of carbon monoxide actually remains high because the flow of air is restricted,” the head of UI’s environmental health department, Budi Haryanto, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Furthermore, the research — sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Asian Environment Project — found that in congested areas the level of carbon monoxide can go up to more than three or four times the State Ministry for the Environment’s accepted standard of 20 parts per million (ppm) within eight hours.

The level of particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or smaller (PM2.5) can be six to 12 times higher than the accepted U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) standard of 65 micrograms per cubic meter.

“This means we are continuously breathing air at a concentrate far higher than the accepted standard of health,” said Budi, the study’s principal investigator. He added that the research used USEPA standards as there is not yet a local standard for PM2.5.

Particulate matter and carbon monoxide are two of the six most common air pollutants. The others are ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and lead.

Particulate matter is a complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets made up of acids, organic chemicals, metals and soil or dust particles.

At 2.5 micrometers — about 1/30 the size of a human hair — or smaller, these particles can pass through the throat and nose, enter the lungs, and cause serious health problems. PM2.5 is emitted by automobiles, burning plant matter, and metal smelting and processing.

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that forms when the carbon in fuel is not burned completely.

Budi said high exposure to these two types of pollutants can shorten life expectancy, leading to the deaths of people at a productive age, increased infant deaths in high pollution areas and increased deaths of people with heart and lung conditions.

“And we know that for the last 30 years the highest rate of acute respiratory infection, at 48 percent, has been in Jakarta,” he said.

The research followed the daily activities of 40 respondents divided into four groups. They were a group of 10 elementary school students from both air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned schools, 10 users of private vehicles (air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned), 10 users of public transportation (air-conditioned and non) and 10 traffic police officers.

“The vehicle users were all commuters from places such as Bekasi and Tangerang, and the students were from the five regions of Jakarta,” Budi explained. He said the traffic police were chosen from those stationed at the Pancoran intersection, the Kuningan intersection and Blok M in South Jakarta, and the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle and the Harmoni intersection in Central Jakarta.

Each group was monitored for 72 hours to determine their daily pattern of activities and the concentration of pollutants inhaled during those activities.

“We found that the elementary school students inhaled the least pollutants due to the proximity of their schools to their homes. Those at highest risk were the traffic police, particularly those on duty at the Pancoran intersection,” Budi said.

Conditions that affect the quality of air include engine technology and the kind of fuel used in vehicles, as well as transportation management techniques that control traffic flow.

“It doesn’t matter if vehicles all use good quality fuel and have great engine technology, if they run at less than 40 kilometers per hour, they will still create pollution,” Budi said.

Minimizing the risk

University of Indonesia community health expert Budi Haryanto has the following advice for Jakartans to minimize the health risks caused by traffic-related air pollution:

* Avoid traffic jams
* When using air-conditioned cars, make sure to open the car window for a minute or two following a traffic jam to get fresh air inside the vehicle
* Spend leisure time in green open spaces away from traffic to cleanse the body of harmful pollutants

Patrons of ‘jamu’ bar nursing health not hangovers

The Jakarta Post, Friday 20 January 2006

While the availability of wines and spirits steers many people through the doors of hotels and restaurants, Sofyan Hotels has another solution for the world-weary — and it also sells.

There is nothing unusual about the bar in the three-star Sofyan Betawi Hotel in Menteng, Central Jakarta, with its slick bartender and rows of gleaming bottles and whisky glasses, except that this bar specializes in herbal drinks.

“We did away with the conventional bar in 2003 because we wanted to return to the idealism of the hotel’s founder, Sofyan Ponda, which was to run a hotel in accordance with Islamic law,” Sofyan Hotels’ marketing and public relations manager Zainal Arifin told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Instead, The Herbal Cafe offers a variety of jamu drinks served in a range of glassware.

“We are aware of the global trend of returning to nature, and, for Indonesia, jamu is both natural and traditional,” Zainal said, explaining the reason behind the choice of a jamu bar.

The problem was, while most people know jamu is good for them, its strong smell and bitter taste are major turnoffs.

This is where herbal bar manager Iqbal Sofyanis comes in. A graduate of the Australian Bartending Academy with 10 years’ experience, Iqbal was hired to develop a range of modern jamu drinks for the bar.

“The idea is to create jamu-based beverages that everyone can accept, meaning that besides the medicinal value, it has to be tasty, refreshing and fun,” Iqbal — who is also the grandson of Sofyan Hotels’ owner — explained. In short, an unusual drink presented in a familiar way.

Take the popular Avocado Latte Float. At first sip it is nothing more than a clever blend of avocado and vanilla ice cream, but soon an agreeable warmth spreads through one’s body from the jamu ingredients — ginseng, cinnamon and ginger.

What looks like a margarita served in a salt-rimmed glass is in fact a Harro Freeze — a mixture of lemon juice and ginger, guaranteed to be good for the heart.

And a cup of coffee becomes, with a dash of ginger, cinnamon, and ginseng, Seha Herbal, perfect for a rainy January day.

While yet to draw a crowd from outside the hotel, business is good, Iqbal said, citing positive feedback to The Herbal Cafe’s participation in last year’s Passer Baroe Festival.

“We turned out some 40 different items and sold out in a short time. Mostly, people are surprised jamu can be so tasty,” he said, hinting at expansion plans.

Also in keeping with Islamic Law, Sofyan Hotels has ensured that all three of its hotels — Sofyan Cikini and Sofyan Betawi in Central Jakarta, and Sofyan Tebet in South Jakarta — serve only halal food. And, besides replacing alcoholic drinks with jamu, it has converted the hotel’s nightclub into function rooms.

“Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), every time we made a change, rather than losses we significantly increased our revenue,” Zainal said.