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Detection, innovation key in fight against TB drug resistance
The gravity of the crisis can be seen in the Global TB Report 2022, which ranked Indonesia as the second-largest contributor to TB worldwide, after India, with an estimated 969,000 active cases.
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A baby receives the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine for tuberculosis during a national child immunization program at an integrated health services post in Banda Aceh on June 9, 2022. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin)
W
hen we commemorated World Tuberculosis Day on March 24, we were reminded that the battle against the disease is far from over. Progress worldwide suffered a setback in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the first time in a decade in which deaths from tuberculosis (TB) increased.
Worse, certain TB strains have exhibited a growing resistance to antibiotics, meaning the disease is now becoming harder to treat. With antimicrobial resistance rising alarmingly throughout the world, can Indonesia achieve its target of eliminating TB by 2030?
Partnering with diverse stakeholders, the Health Ministry is striving to reach its goal of ridding the country of TB by 2030. In 2022 alone, more than 700,000 cases were recorded, a new high since TB was listed as a priority in the 2010-2014 Medium-Term National Development Plan (RPJMN).
The record-breaking case detection figure was made possible by the government’s TB elimination commitment and increasingly aggressive surveillance, Health Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril said recently
As early detection was key to successful treatment, he added, the government considered it of the utmost importance to launch mass TB screenings.
Last year, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin ordered all health professionals to prioritize active TB case detection with the goal of detecting 90 percent of TB infections in the country by 2024, based on estimates of total cases. To achieve that goal, he said, starting from January of this year, at least 60,000 TB cases should be found monthly, with the names and locations of the patients recorded.
Through the mass screenings conducted nationwide last year, the government has shown its resolve to fight TB, which claims more than 1.5 million lives globally every year, according to the World Health Organization.
