UNAIR NEWS – Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world. The population is more than 250 million with land area of 1.9 million kilometers and an ocean of 5.8 million kilometers.
In October 2015, President Joko Widodo and President Barrack Obama held a meeting resulted in several cooperation agreements. They include health cooperation that will provide a framework, joint collaborative work to build capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to global health challenges.
In the discussion of Infectious Diseases, Bio-threats and Military Medicine (INSBIOMM) on Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at Universitas Airlangga, the Ministry of Defense (Kemenhan) represented by Health Director of the Ministry of Defense TNI First Admiral Arie Zakaria, dr. SpOT, SpKL, FICS revealed the significant role of military medicine in managing national defense threats. He said that there were programs carried out by the Indonesian National Military (TNI) to deal with problems in Indonesia.
“There are several programs carried out by TNI to tackle health problems in Indonesia, such as mass screening (knock the door), and education on TB in the TNI complex and barracks, involvement of military personnel / Babinsa in TB case finding, and many more, “he said.
First Admiral Arie also said that in Indonesia, there is 75 percent of the population living in malaria-free areas, while the other 25 percent still live in malaria-endemic areas.
“More than 198 million or 75 percent of Indonesian people live in malaria-free areas, and the remaining 25 percent still live in malaria-endemic areas,” he added.
At the end of his presentation, Laksma Arie said that biological threats were real to Indonesia. Thus, the role of military medicine is vital in managing national defense threats.
“Biological threat is one of the real threats to Indonesia. The role of military medicine is vital in managing national defense threats. So cooperation between the military and government health services is needed, “he concluded. (*)
Author: Faisal Dika Utama
Editor: Binti Q Masruroh
