Thursday, September 1, 2022, students from the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) of the University of Indonesia (UI) again made achievements in the international arena. Ulfi Hida Zainita, Master of Health Promotion at FPH UI won the title of Best Student Presentation at the 19th Pacific Basin Consortium for Environment and Health International Conference (PBC Conference) 2022. Together with Ulfi, students from Japan, Cambodia, Korea, and India.
The PBC Conference was held at Maison Glad Jeju Hotel, Korea for 4 days from August 29 to September 1, 2022. The conference with the theme “Environmental Exposure in a Changing Climate” was organized by the International Environmental Research Institute (IERI) and the Gwangju Institute of Science. & Technology (GIST). For 19 times held, the PBC Conference has always had the same goal, namely promoting human health and the environment through education and practice in the fields of toxicology, engineering, and sanitation, as well as focusing on prioritizing environmental health issues in the host country. A total of 250 participants from various countries attended both virtual and in-person at the 2022 PBC Conference.
Together with 2 (two) FPH UI lecturers, Prof. dr. Dra. Evi Martha, M.Kes., and Dr. Besral, S.K.M., M.Sc., Ulfi made a systematic review entitled “Indonesian Adolescents’ Well-Being and Knowledge of Climate Change”. This paper started from the anxiety of Prof. Evie, Dr. Besral, and Ulfi regarding the importance of recognizing Indonesian youth knowledge about climate change as the key to protecting their basic rights and welfare. Climate change is known to create disruption to human well-being, including youth, who are in fact the most vulnerable population to the impacts of climate change.
There are some interesting findings from the written paper. It was found that knowledge related to climate change among Indonesian youth, both in urban and rural areas, is still very limited. It was also found that the welfare of adolescents is greatly affected by climate change, starting from the lack of fulfillment of the right to education, the right to a decent life, to the right to healthy and nutritious food. This paper also reveals how knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes related to climate change have a significant effect on the intentions of pro-environmental behavior in adolescents. To overcome this, it is recommended for the Indonesian government to be more committed to providing formal and non-formal education related to climate change that can reach all adolescents in Indonesia in order to maintain the welfare of adolescents. “This research is expected to be able to provide recommendations to the government regarding the importance of increasing adolescent knowledge on climate change because adolescents are the age group most vulnerable to the challenges of climate change,” said Ulfi.
Before getting the chance to be a presenter, Ulfi had gone through a series of processes. Initially, abstracts and papers were made to be submitted to the committee. The abstract succeeded in stunning the organizers so that Ulfi and his team managed to get a grant to attend a series of live conferences in Korea and make presentations. This presentation then led Ulfi as the Best Student Presenter.
This achievement is expected to be a trigger for other FPH UI students to work and innovate both on a national and international level. The research that has been carried out is also expected to provide the maximum and widest benefit to the scientific treasures of public health and environmental health. Of course, cooperation from various sectors is also needed to create prosperous Indonesian youth from climate change. “Cooperation is needed from the academic sector, NGOs, the community, the mass media, and private companies to support government policies in order to protect the basic rights and welfare of youth from climate change,” concluded Ulfi. (BK)
