Universal health coverage urgent to end tuberculosis

Rita Widiadana
The Jakarta Post

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Jakarta / Wed, March 27, 2019 / 09:46 am

Universal health coverage urgent to end tuberculosis

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)

Tuberculosis (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 mortalit...