YOGYAKARTA - Prodia Raises Public Awareness on Autoimmune Diseases

YOGYAKARTA, 28 April 2018 - Autoimmune disease refers to illness or disorder that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the healthy cells in the body. The definite cause of this disease remains veiled. Therefore, it is important for the public to get information on autoimmune diseases.

There are more than 80 different types of autoimmune diseases, but some of the most common ones are systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), or simply known as lupus, with an incidence rate of 0.5% over the total population and rheumatoid arthritis or rheumatic. Compared to men, women have a much higher prevalence of autoimmune diseases.

Unfortunately, the information on autoimmune diseases provided for the public is inadequate. As a result, people tend to pay less attention to the diseases. Being aware of the importance of the education to raise public awareness on autoimmune diseases, Prodia holds a national seminar with the theme 'Keep Strong Stay Healthy to Prevent Autoimmune Diseases' .

The seminar will be held in eight cities across Indonesia. The first one is in Bogor. Whereas in Yogyakarta the seminar will be held at Inna Garuda Hotel, in Nakula Sadewa Room. As a keynote speaker, dr. Desinta Putri Mulya, Sp.PD-KAI will speak about the pathophysiology, types, risk factors, diagnosis, prevention, and management of autoimmune diseases (including the nutrition information). While Regional Product Executive of PT Prodia Widyahusada Tbk Novi Hastuti, M.Sc. Apt. will speak about the role of biomarker in establishing autoimmune diseases diagnosis and the supporting examinations.

Doctor Desinta stated that it is important for the people to have more information on autoimmune diseases for early prevention. "Genetic factor aside, the definite causes of Autoimmune have not been clearly identified. A research has proved that vitamin D deficiency is one of the risk factors of this disease and I think not many people know about this. So, it is important to get more information on autoimmune diseases, from the risk factors, prevention to disease management for those already diagnosed with autoimmune," she said.

A research finds out that autoimmune disease is related to vitamin D deficiency. It is stated that autoimmune patient has low vitamin D concentration. In Indonesia, the prevalence rate of vitamin D deficiency on women aged 45-55 is about 50%. A research conducted in Indonesia and Malaysia found that the prevalence rate of vitamin D deficiency on women aged 18-40 is 63%. Meanwhile, a research on children aged 1-12.9, finds that 45% of the participants have vitamin D insufficiency. Therefore, the observation on vitamin D sufficiency is necessary.

Regional Product Executive of PT Prodia Widyahusada Tbk Novi Hastuti, M.Sc., Apt. said that there is no autoimmune screening available for healthy people. However, there is a laboratory test to observe the condition of autoimmune patient, in addition to the laboratory test to monitor the sufficiency of vitamin D in the body. "We have an autoimmune test called IF-ANA for the people with the symptoms to examine whether they have the risk of autoimmune diseases. There are also some other tests to help determine the types of autoimmune suffered by the patient, namely ANA Profile, Anti dsDNA NcX, ProALD, AMA M2, etc. Prodia also provides Vitamin D-25 Total OH test to assess the sufficiency of vitamin D in the body," she explained.

The national seminar is an annual event held by Prodia to be an educational forum for the public. In this national seminar, Prodia set the theme related to diseases which should be anticipated and require early prevention.

Marketing Communications Manager of PT Prodia Widyahusada Tbk Reskia Dwi Lestari stated that as the first clinical laboratory focusing on the Next Generation Medicine and continuously providing education on P4 medicine, e.g. preventive medicine, Prodia realizes the need to take actions and hold activities that promote preventive measures to the community. "People need to take preventive measures in order to avoid the worst effect of a disease. The doctors need to inform and encourage the patients, while the clinical laboratories like us, Prodia, need to do so to the customers to make them familiar with taking preventive measures," Reskia said.

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About PT Prodia Widyahusada Tbk

Prodia Clinical Laboratory was initially established in Solo on 7 May 1973 by a group of idealist pharmacists. From the very first, Dr. Andi Wijaya, MBA along with the other founders have been committed to present the best test results with wholehearted services.

As the market leader, since 2012 Prodia has been the only laboratory and clinic in Indonesia accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP). It implies that Prodia' s test results are equal in quality to those obtained from other international laboratories.

On 7 December 2016, the Indonesia Stock Exchange officially listed the initial public offering of Prodia as the 15th issuer in 2016, with the ticker symbol 'PRDA' . In that corporate action, Prodia offered 187.5 million shares. Accordingly, the fund raised from the Company' s initial public offering (IPO) was Rp1.22 trillion.

Currently, Prodia has had the service network that incorporates 284 outlets, consisting of 137 clinical laboratories across 33 provinces and 119 cities in Indonesia, Prodia Health Care (PHC) - a personalized medicine-based wellness clinic - and specialty clinics, including Prodia Children' s Health Centre (PCHC), Prodia Women' s Health Centre (PWHC), and Prodia Senior Health Centre (PSHC).

Prodia chose 'Influencing the Future' as the theme of its 45th anniversary celebration. This theme is chosen with the hope that the presence of the service and facilities owned and developed by Prodia can inspire and give positive impact to the healthcare sector, now and in the future.

For further information, please contact:

Reskia Dwi Lestari

Marketing Communications Manager

PT Prodia Widyahusada Tbk

Ph. +62 21 3144182 ext. 3768

E-mail marcomm@prodia.co.id