In response to the scourge of beriberi, which Indonesian musician Angger Dimas called “the sea’s pandemic,” he produced a song entitled “Beriberi 101.”

Beriberi is the result of a severe vitamin B1 deficiency among sailors forced to endure long periods at sea with little more than rice, noodles and fermented fish to eat. Beriberi leads to symptoms such as burning, swelling, confusion and lethargy and, left untreated, can lead to death. 

The painful irony of this disease is that it can be treated with a vitamin B1 supplement, but, more often than not, ships don’t carry these supplements and ship captains opt not to take sick crew members to shore for treatment because of the time and the cost it would incur. 

In an interview, Dimas said it is a sad fact that many Indonesian crew members have been dying from this preventable illness. Dimas expressed his hope that the facts about this disease would be “delivered to our government so they can take care of this matter.” He also expressed his desire for his song and the corresponding journalism to “affect the future of the fishermen for the greater good.”

Angger Dimas