据《雅加达邮报》10月12日报道，健康专家称如戴口罩和调整空调设置等预防措施可能帮助人们避免烟霾造成的最严重健康影响，当前烟霾来自加里曼丹和苏门答腊几个省的土地和森林和森林火灾以及海外。

Health experts have said precautionary measures such as wearing masks and changing air conditioner (AC) settings may help people avoid the most serious health impacts of smoke from the land and forest fires currently polluting several provinces across Kalimantan and Sumatra as well as overseas.

Indonesian Society of Respirology secretary Agus Dwi Susanto said eliminating the main sources of the haze disaster, namely land and forest fires, was critical to keep people from a hazardous situation. However, it was also important for people to protect themselves from smoke by taking some precautionary measures.

“These include using masks or respirators, changing the AC mode from cooling to recirculating, and using an air purifier or air cleaner,” said Agus during a press conference at Persahabatan Hospital in Jakarta on Monday.

Overall, he said, the three main issues – smoke, smoke-affected people and the environment – needed to be managed well to prevent casualties. People needed to take these precautionary measures even if they had not yet been affected by the haze, he added.

“People will not immediately get sick after they inhale polluted air. They will only get pre-clinical symptoms [before their conditions get worse],” said Agus.

Early detection and treatment, he said, such as preparing medicines for immediate help and seeking medical treatment at the closest health care facility, would be helpful in preventing the health impacts of smoke. “The third important thing to do is to prevent complications once people suffer health problems from the haze,” he said.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) data reveals that as of Sunday, as many as 322,676 people have suffered from acute respiratory tract infections due to smoke from land and forest fires over the past two months.

Agus said the mortality rate of those suffering haze-related health problems was 3 percent of the total victims. Most haze victims suffered declined lung functions.

A medical expert from the Indonesian Society of Respirology, Feni Fitriani, said that in the long run, respiratory tract infections could develop into chronic respiratory infections and cause changes in the lungs’ ability to function.

The Health Ministry said its haze crisis center had distributed around 10,000 masks to smoke-affected areas since May. (ebf)