(Vibizmedia – Brazil) Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin had the opportunity to share experiences of how Indonesia is trying to eliminate Tuberculosis (TB) when attending the 37th Stop TB Partnership (STP) Board Meeting in the City of Brasilia, Brazil.
Indonesia, the country with the second highest burden of TB globally, has made efforts to eradicate TB and managed to record significant success last year, namely the highest case report or notification in the history of TB in Indonesia.
Minister of Health Budi explained that previously Indonesia could only detect 400-500 thousand TB cases, this even fell to around 300 thousand during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, in 2022, case detection managed to increase to 700 thousand and 800 thousand cases in 2023.
Indonesia remains committed to increasing the number of reported cases to 900 thousand from the estimated 1 million TB cases by 2024. Indonesia is also committed to providing shorter TB treatment, strengthening collaboration with communities, and innovating financing for TB services.
The Minister of Health said that hard work, perseverance and a willingness to learn and sacrifice can prove that eradicating TB globally is not a coincidence, but rather a future success that can be achieved together. The Minister of Health added that eliminating Tuberculosis (TB) will have a positive impact on economic growth in Indonesia.
The Minister of Health also explained the efforts made by the government to eradicate TB. These efforts include collaborating with the community and health cadres to screen 2.2 million people at high risk of TB.
Minister of Health Budi added that Indonesia involved the community to form the TB Army, a trained community for TB survivors who helps detect and monitor MDR TB (multidrug-resistant tuberculosis) patients.
MDR TB is a type of tuberculosis that is resistant to the two most powerful anti-tuberculosis drugs. This means that these drugs are no longer effective in killing TB bacteria in the patient’s body.
Furthermore, Indonesia is also encouraging innovation in tuberculosis diagnosis by producing five PCR-based TB detection kits, which can be utilized by the 1,000 PCR laboratories that already exist in Indonesia.
Minister of Health Rudi stated that his party was also accelerating the implementation of precision medicine by establishing the Biomedical & Genome Science Initiative (BGSi), which includes genome sequencing on MDR TB samples to improve surveillance.
BGSi is a national initiative to encourage the use of genomic data or genetic information so that it can be used to prevent and treat disease precisely and accurately.
The Minister of Health added that Indonesia also ensures that TB treatment is accessible to everyone. Indonesia is one of the first countries in Asia to launch BPaL and BPaLM (bedaquiline, pretomanid, linezolid, and moxifloxacin).
This treatment is known as a short-term oral regimen for drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB RO). This regimen helps shorten short-term RO TB treatment to six months. Previously, short-term treatment for RO TB patients lasted 9–11 months and used injections.
In addition, Indonesia is supporting operational research on the potential for shorter treatment regimens for Drug Sensitive Tuberculosis (TB SO). If TB RO requires a more complex treatment approach because the bacteria that causes TB, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is resistant to certain drugs, TB SO can be treated with a standard regimen. However, the current duration of TB SO treatment is still around 6-9 months.
The Minister of Health said that Indonesia was one of the first countries in the world to implement a pilot initiative to provide incentives for community health centers, providing standardized TB services, including diagnosis, reporting and complete treatment of TB cases.
Not only at the national level, Indonesia’s commitment is also demonstrated at the global level, namely Indonesia initiated the Alliance of Countries to Fight Tuberculosis with Nigeria, the Philippines and Poland.
“I believe that by joining forces, we can win the fight against tuberculosis.” emphasized Minister of Health Budi.
2024-02-15 14:01:55
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