Jakarta – Indonesia harbors nearly a third of the world's neglected tropical diseases, despite there being cures for many of them, largely due to poor sanitation and unhealthy living, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
A report titled Working to Overcome the Global Impact of Neglected Tropical Diseases, dated Oct. 14, showed that six of the 17 neglected tropical diseases in the world existed in Indonesia. They are rabies, dengue, endemic treponematoses, leprosy, elephantiasis and intestinal worms. In 2009 leprosy afflicted about 21,000 people in Indonesia.
WHO director general Margaret Chan said in a speech to present the report that the diseases shared a striking commonality although they differed in medical causes and symptoms.
"The neglected tropical diseases form a group because of one shared feature: All occur almost exclusively among very poor people living in tropical parts of the world," she said.
Chan added that these diseases thrived "in impoverished settings, where housing is often substandard, safe water and sanitation are scarce, environments are filthy, and insects and other vectors are abundant".
The diseases, she added, caused physical and mental impairments including blindness, disfigurement and damage to the internal organs.
Yet, the diseases have slipped the public's attention because they affected "people with little political voice and low visibility on national and international agendas", Chan said.
Eradicating the diseases should not be difficult as most are ancient diseases that are typically gradually expunged from a country as living and hygiene standards improve, she said.
"If we keep doing the right things better, and on a larger scale, some of these diseases could be eliminated by 2015, and others by 2020."
Jajang Gunawidjaja, a medical anthropologist from the University of Indonesia (UI), said that Indonesia was a breeding ground for such diseases because many crowded slum settlements lacked proper sanitation.
He said the situation was compounded by the fact that many people in the country had weakened immune systems due to malnutrition, which left them less resistant to the diseases.
"Furthermore, society tends to ostracize those suffering from the diseases, such as elephantiasis," he told The Jakarta Post.
He said the fact that the diseases were still found in the country showed that the government had weak policies on health.
Budi Haryanto, a public health expert from UI, said that the government's disease eradication program did not reach everyone.
He said the public played a role in the prevention and cure of diseases. Citing an example, he said the free medication for leprosy provided by the government was only effective if taken regularly for the duration of the prescribed course.
Farida Hayati, a health and social welfare expert from UI, said it was important for both the government and the public to work together to fight tropical diseases.
"In terms of sanitation, the government must work with the people to identify the people's exact sanitation needs and gauge their ability to maintain such facilities," she said, adding that it was crucial for the government to promote hygiene. (gzl)