KNOWLEDGE AND HISTORY OF NON COMMUNICABLE DISEASES AMONG HOUSEWIVES IN THE YEAR 2013 OGAN ILIR-SOUTH SUMATERA-INDONESIA

Background: Indonesia as a developing country experiencing epidemiologic transition in which communicable diseases are still main concern in Indonesia, while non-communicable diseases (degenerative) is starting to increase and to be major cause of death. Degenerative diseases are caused by many risk factors including lifestyle, eating habits, smoking, physical inactivity, genetics and other causes. Basic Health Research in 2007 showed the prevalence of the disease in Indonesia among other degenerative joint disease (30.3%), hypertension (29.8%), stroke (0.8%), heart (7.2%), diabetes mellitus (1,1%), and cancer (0.4%). Methods: This research is a descriptive study with a quantitative approach. The study design used was a cross sectional study. The samples in this study were 99 housewives in Ogan Ilir. Sampling technique in this study is a cluster random sampling to select four villages as clusters. The analyses conducted in this study are univariate analysis and correlation tests. Results: The results of this study were 29 (29.3%) of respondents had received counseling on non-communicable diseases, 40.4% of respondents considered overweight (obesity) can reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases, 79.8% knew that reducing caffeine consumption may decrease the risk of non-communicable diseases, and 77% know that reducing smoking can reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases. The disease is the most common rheumatic respondents (20.2%), traffic accidents (19.2), and hypertension (17.2%). Non-communicable diseases most suffered by the elderly respondents were hypertension (42.4%), arthritis (38.4%), and heart (19.2%). Correlation test results demonstrate a positive correlation between the respondent and the history of disease in the elderly (r = 0.172). Conclusion: Health promotion in order to improve the knowledge of the risk factors of non-communicable diseases in the housewife needs to be done both through education and the mass media. This encourages housewives to avoid the risk factors of non-communicable diseases which mainly caused by unhealthy eating patterns. Keywords: Non communicable diseases, knowledge, disease history, risk factors, prevention, housewives.