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AKARTA: Indonesia and the United States have signed a new partnership on the control of Tuberculosis and preventing drug resistance.

Miles Toder, acting US Agency for International Development (Usaid) mission director, said Wednesday that the US would provide support for Indonesia’s efforts in tackling Tuberculosis.

The program has prioritized 11 high-risk provinces and districts, where it will increase diagnostic and laboratory capacity, manage drug supplies, improve access to quality care, and health systems.

He said the US government was providing more than US$4.3 billion globally to fight Tuberculosis, and that Indonesia was one of its grantees.

Tuberculosis remains a major global public health problem, with 9.4 million new cases and more than 1.7 million deaths in 2009. Indonesia has the fifth highest Tuberculosis rate in the world.

“The only way to prevent Tuberculosis is to ensure that those with active Tuberculosis are promptly diagnosed, begin treatment as soon as possible and successfully complete the treatment,” Toder said. Without treatment, Tuberculosis has a higher than 50 percent death rate. — JP