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Universal health coverage urgent to end tuberculosis
Although treatable and curable, why is tuberculosis still a daunting global public health problem?
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Tuberculosis (TB) remains among the 10 leading causes of death worldwide and Indonesia has the world’s second-highest incidence of TB. (Shutterstock/Kateryna Kon)
T
uberculosis (TB) remains among the 10 leading causes of death worldwide and Indonesia has the world’s second-highest incidence of TB. For World TB Day, which fell on March 24, Eric Goosby, the United Nations special envoy on tuberculosis, talked to The Jakarta Post’s Rita Widiadana. Goosby is also professor of medicine and director of global health delivery and diplomacy at the University of California, San Francisco. The following are excerpts from the e-mail interview.
Question: What are the most challenging factors in eliminating TB?
Answer: TB remains the leading infectious disease killer on the planet, killing 1.6 million people in 2017 alone. Moreover, an estimated 10 million people became ill with TB in 2017. Eight countries in Southeast Asia and Africa, including Indonesia, accounted for two-thirds of all new cases worldwide.
The mortality rate is declining, by approximately 3 percent per year since 2000, or 43 percent overall between 2000 and 2017. This decline resulted from substantial progress in the number of patients being diagnosed and treated.
The most challenging factors that hinder efforts to eliminate TB are obtaining the resources needed to invest in the acceleration of new tools and diagnostics; the inability to complete diagnosis and treat when necessary; and the lack of political will.
Although treatable and curable, why is TB still a daunting global public health problem?
TB preys on people living in poverty — many don’t have access to diagnosis, let alone receive treatment. Moreover, because TB is so easy to transmit — a simple cough can do it — people living or working with a person who has TB are susceptible.
