Adolescent girls experience menstruation once every month during their teenage years, which is when they are prone to anemia because during menstruation they lose some of their iron and adolescent girls tend to find it difficult to take blood supplement tablets. Adolescent girls will not always be in the teenage phase, but in the future they will go through the fertile phase, pregnancy phase and also the elderly phase. Why is it emphasized on young women because if many people experience anemia during the teenage phase, this will have an impact in the future. The prevalence of anemia in the Kartasura area among middle and high school students is quite sad because 48% of young women are affected by anemia. Anemia can attack children, teenagers, adults and the elderly. What the health center does to reduce anemia rates is to carry out screening twice a year, namely in March, October and September by providing education and health promotions to middle and high school young women so that their knowledge, attitudes, behavior and awareness increase. Education is carried out continuously so that the prevalence of anemia decreases. Symptoms of anemia include 5L (weakness, tiredness, exhaustion, lethargy and weakness), the face looks pale, gets dizzy easily and doesn’t concentrate. To treat anemia, you must first find out what the cause is and then you can decide what kind of treatment it will be. Blood supplement tablets have side effects, namely nausea and vomiting, so it is recommended to take them on an empty stomach so that the side effects and vomiting are not so pronounced. For young women, they take blood supplement tablets once a week and during menstruation they must consume them to have iron reserves. There needs to be collaboration between the school and parents because they often interact and know all daily habits and behavior. From the puskesmas there is the CERDIK (prevent Indonesian adolescent anemia) application which contains complete data about anemia throughout the Kartasura area. In this application, teenagers can fill in every time they take a blood supplement tablet. The indicator of success in reducing anemia is not very significant, namely from 48% in March to October to 47%. Education is also carried out through social media. The message for young women is to maintain a pattern of consuming lots of protein and iron, don’t just eat any snacks, and regularly consume blood supplement tablets and avoid drinking too much tea and cereal because it can cause anemia.

Speaker: dr. Rizka Ramadhiyah (Kartasura Health Center)

Moderator: Muhammad Naufal Mizan Auladi