GERMAS - Overcoming health problems is still a serious challenge in Indonesia. Now there are still at least the triple burden or three important health problems related to eradicating infectious diseases, increasing cases of non-communicable diseases, and the re-emergence of diseases that should have been overcome.

Changes in people's increasingly modern lifestyles have become one of the basics of GERMAS or the Healthy Living Community Movement proclaimed by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia. Infectious diseases such as diarrhea, tuberculosis to dengue fever were previously common health cases; now there has been a marked change in the number of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and coronary heart disease.

Getting to know GERMAS - Healthy Living Community Movement

GERMAS is a movement that aims to promote a culture of healthy living and leave behind unhealthy habits and behaviors of people. This GERMAS action was also followed by promoting clean and healthy living behavior and support for community-based infrastructure programs.

This program has several focuses, such as building access to meet drinking water needs, public health installations, and the development of livable settlements. These three are the basic infrastructure that forms the foundation of the healthy living community movement.

Knowing the Meaning of the GERMAS

Logo The GERMAS logo, which seems simple, has a deep meaning; knowing the meaning behind the logo can be the beginning of a better understanding and appreciation of the Healthy Living Community Movement which has been launched since 2015. The logo contains three fields in turquoise blue which are symbols of the 3 Pillars of the Healthy Indonesia Program. The three pillars are the Implementation of the Healthy Paradigm, Strengthening Health Services, and National Health Insurance.

While the bright green field with the shape of a heart is a symbol of the universal and sincere spirit of efforts to bring all Indonesian citizens to healthier regardless of ethnicity, race, social strata, and cultural background.

• The letter K in the logo represents the word Health which is a part of the Ministry in charge of GERMAS.
• The five-pointed logo section on a rounded area represents the five MoH values; namely Pro people, Responsive, Effective, and Clean, and based on Pancasila.
• While the line resembling an arrow symbolizes the goal of the Health of the Republic of Indonesia form of realizing a healthy Indonesian state.

Picture Benefits of GERMAS

7 Steps of Healthy Living Community Movement

There are at least 7 important steps in implementing the Healthy Living Community Movement. These seven steps are an important part of habituation to a healthy lifestyle in the community to prevent various health problems that are at risk of being experienced by the people of Indonesia. Here are 7 GERMAS steps that can be a guide to living a healthier lifestyle.

1. Doing Physical Activity
   The behavior of modern life often makes many people not do the physical activity; whether it's physical activity due to work or exercise. The conveniences in everyday life due to the help of technology and the lack of time due to a lot of busyness have made many people live an unhealthy lifestyles. The Germas section of physical activity is one of the movements that is prioritized to improve the quality of one's health.
    
2. Eating Fruits and Vegetables The
   desire to eat practical and delicious foods often makes the time to eat fruits and vegetables less, which is much healthier and beneficial for the health of the body. Some types of food and beverages such as junk food and soft drinks should be reduced or stopped consumption. Increasing the amount of food consumption from fruits and vegetables is an example of GERMAS that can be done by anyone.
   
   The next problem is how to overcome so that children want to eat fruit and vegetables, for this you can apply tips for children to eat fruit and vegetables as follows, one of which is by creating food from fruit and vegetables by turning it into an attractive appearance, for example from characters. cartoons that children like use tomatoes and cucumbers so at first it was difficult for children to eat fruit and vegetables to want to eat vegetables and fruit.
   
   One of the GERMAS campaigns is a campaign to eat fruit and vegetables which provides information on how much the benefits are and why you should eat fruits and vegetables every day. Because you have to understand the importance of why you have to eat fruits and vegetables every day, here are the effects of not eating fruits and vegetables for your health, for example, defecation problems, increased risk of non-communicable diseases, high blood pressure, and others.
   
   By understanding the importance of fruit and vegetable eating behavior, it is hoped that the community can be more active in increasing fruit and vegetable eating campaigns to improve public health throughout Indonesia.
    
3. Not Smoking
   Smoking is a habit that has a lot of negative effects on health. Quitting smoking is an important part of the healthy living movement and will have no impact on smokers; but also the people around them. Asking for expert help through hypnosis or other smoking cessation methods can be an alternative to breaking this bad habit.
    
4. Not Consuming Alcoholic Beverages Alcoholic
   beverages have similar adverse effects to smoking; whether it's a bad effect on health to social effects on the people around them.
    
5. Conducting Periodic Health Checks
   One part of the meaning of Germas as a movement for a healthy living community is to better manage health. Among them is to do regular health checks and not just come to the hospital or health center when sick. This step has the benefit of being able to make it easier to detect diseases or health problems early.
   
   There is a variety of health check media information that provides tips on regular health checks, what exactly are the types of periodic health checks that you can do to find out your health condition? Here are some examples of checks that can be done.
   
    
   • Health Checks Weight (BB) and Height (TB) Routinely
     Performing Weight Checks is useful so that you can get a Body Mass Index (BMI) value which can later determine whether your weight and height are in ideal conditions or at risk of developing non-communicable diseases (PTM)
      
   • Check Abdominal Circumference Periodically
     By checking Abdominal Circumference regularly you can control belly fat, if excessive it can cause diseases such as stroke, diabetes to heart attack
      
   • Blood Pressure Check Blood
     Pressure Checking can help you detect the risk of stroke, hypertension to heart
      
   • Blood Sugar Levels Periodically
     can find out the level of glucose in the blood with this type of periodic health check, the result is that you can find out the potential for diabetes
      
   • Check
      
   • You
     . "Good" Cholesterol and Triglycerides
      
   • Check Expiratory Peak Flowthe
     in pulmonary function testing, this check is usually carried out on people with asthma or other diseases to assess lung ability.
      
   • Check and Early Detection of Cervical Cancer
     checks
      
   • Check Consciously Check Your Breasts Self
     Then the next in a variety of periodic health checks is breast self-examination.
      
6. Keeping the Environment
   An important part of healthy living is also related to improving the quality of the environment; one of them is serious about keeping the environment clean. Keeping the environment clean on a small scale such as at the household level can be done by managing waste. Another step that can be taken is to maintain cleanliness to reduce health risks such as preventing the development of disease vectors in the surrounding environment.
    
7. Using latrines
   The sanitation aspect is an important part of the movement for healthy living; one of them uses the latrine as a means of disposal of waste. The activity of defecating outside the latrine can increase the risk of transmission of various types of diseases as well as reduce the quality of the environment.

In general, the goal of GERMAS is to lead a healthier life. A healthy lifestyle will provide many benefits, ranging from improving the quality of health to increasing one's productivity. Another important thing that should not be forgotten in a healthy lifestyle is a clean and healthy environment and the reduced risk of wasting more money on medical expenses when sick.