JAKARTA — At the Muslim Life Fest 2024 event, Dompet Dhuafa also supported the health talk show entitled “Careful Parents, Healthy Children” on Sunday (1/9/2024) at ICE BSD, Tangerang. Raising the issue of children’s health is also a variety of guidelines for parents for proper handling of children’s health.
Given the easy access to information circulating on social media, making parents make social media the standard for finding an answer or information, not a few parents are consumed by hoaxes or myths about children’s health in particular.
During 2023, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo) has handled 1,615 hoax content issues circulating on websites and digital platforms. By category, until December 2023, the most hoax issues were related to the health sector. Kominfo found 2,357 hoax issues in the health category.
Dompet Dhuafa invited a child health expert, Dr. Arifianto, Sp.A(K), or familiarly called Dr. Apin, to emphasize the importance of parents having basic knowledge about children’s health so that they can take the right steps when their children are sick. Good health literacy determines whether the child gets the right treatment or not.
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She also reminded parents to be cautious of information spread on social media, as it is often incomplete. Therefore, Dr. Apin encourages parents to enrich their understanding by reading reliable articles or books on child health.
“So I emphasize that all parents have an obligation to equip themselves with the knowledge of children’s health so that they don’t take the wrong steps when their children are sick,” said Dr. Apin, his nickname.
In addition to explaining how to be a careful parent, Dr. Apin also talked about myths surrounding children’s health.
In his presentation, Dr. Apin also said that fever does not occur as a disease, but as a sign of illness. Fever actually has benefits, because at higher body temperatures, germs, viruses, and bad bacteria are easier to fight and remove from the body.
“I ask that parents make friends with fever, so that they do not panic easily when their children have a fever and do not easily lower the temperature when the child has a fever, because in the condition of fever, actually the goal is to make the body recover quickly but on the other hand, you also have to know what emergency conditions make parents have to take their children to the doctor when facing a fever accompanied by other symptoms,” added Dr. Apin.
Parents are encouraged to play an active role when consulting with doctors, not only as recipients of information, but also to provide feedback and be critical regarding what has been diagnosed previously.
“The hope is that parents are motivated to continuously add insight into the health of their children’s illnesses, and parents must be able to change their behavior when going to the doctor not to be a passive object but to be an active person who also provides feedback to the doctor, not surrendering when told what the pain is, but being critical to ask further what the diagnosis of the disease is and may ask why my child is given therapy or treatment like this,” said Dr. Apin.
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Oktaviani Amelia, one of the participants, felt greatly helped by the talk show on children’s health, because according to her, children’s health is always a source of concern.
“Alhamdulillah, I listened to some tips as a parent when my child has a fever, cough or other illnesses, this made me realize that we must be aware and must be willing to learn more about children’s health,” she said.
In closing, Dr. Apin also revealed three things that parents should pay attention to. When visiting a doctor, it is important for parents to ensure they go home with three key pieces of information. First, knowing the diagnosis given in medical terms to be able to cross check the disease. Secondly, if a therapy is given, such as antibiotics, it is important to ask why it was given. Third, understanding when to return to the doctor and recognizing the signs of emergencies that require immediate treatment.
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In addition to child health education, Dompet Dhuafa also continues to aggressively voice the issue of Palestine, through the Preloved For Palestine program, Dompet Dhuafa wants to invite visitors to share items that are still suitable for use to be resold.
The proceeds from the preloved sales will be donated to the Palestinian Ambulance Waqf campaign. Items that can be donated include clothing such as shirts, koko shirts, trousers, shoes, sandals, gamis, khimar, skirts, and mukena. Dompet Dhuafa also provided health checks through a health service booth with Free Health Services (LKC). (Dompet Dhuafa)
Text and photo: Anndini Dwi Putri
Editor: Dhika Prabowo