Non-communicable diseases such as stroke, hypertension, and diabetes, dominate the 10 death causes in Indonesia, increasing every year. A huge amount of money is spent to treat these diseases. If the diseases are not controlled, they can create even bigger expenses in the future.
The increasing prevalence of the non-communicable diseases is caused by, among others, smoking, alcohol, and processed foods and drinks. People often consume them as producers are able to make use of technology for good brand image, making consumers unaware of the health hazards.
“There is a conflict of interests here between people’s need to maintain health and industry focusing on profit. Thus, we need to be active to counter this by making use of technology as a means to promote prevention of non-communicable diseases,” said the lecturer at Faculty of Medicine UGM, dr. Yodi Mahendradhata, M.Sc, Ph.D, in a seminar titled eHealth and mHealth for Non-Communicable Disease, on Wednesday (23/3) in the Auditorium of the Faculty.
The seminar is hosted by Informatics Biomedics working group to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Faculty of Medicine, the 34th anniversary of Dr. Sardjito General Hospital, and the fourth anniversary of UGM Academic Hospital. It aims at exploring the potential and identifying opportunities and challenges for health approach implementation through ICT in the controlling practices of non-communicable diseases.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has prioritised to address non-communicable diseases among others. “It is included in the health development goals for 2005-2024 through preventive and promotive strategy,” said Punto Dewo, SKM, from the Ministry.
Punto called on the people to have a healthy lifestyle through six measures: regular health checks, physical exercise, non-smoking, good diet, adequate rest, and stress management.