Some 75 percent of TB patients are from the productive age group of between 15 and 55 years.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has given a cautionary reminder of the high number of tuberculosis (TB) cases among people of the productive age of between 15 and 55 years in Indonesia.

"Some 75 percent of the TB patients belong to the productive age group of between 15 and 55 years. We should be wary of this trend," Jokowi stated during a limited meeting on accelerating efforts for the eradication of TB at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Indonesia has the third-highest TB caseload globally after India and China and is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a high-burden nation for TB, Multi-Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB), and TB/HIV.

The head of state remarked that 165 thousand people had died of TB in 2017 and 98 thousand in 2018.

"TB is one of the 10 communicable diseases that caused the maximum number of deaths in the world, surpassing those from HIV/AIDS per year," he pointed out.

To this end, the head of state has called for making integrated efforts to prevent and eliminate TB cases in the country.

"Houses, with lack of sunlight and improper ventilation, especially those in an overpopulated area, are among the factors triggering people-to-people transmission. Hence, not only the Health Ministry but also the Social Affairs Ministry and Public Works and Public Housing Ministry must partake in this TB prevention endeavor," he affirmed.

The government would ensure the availability of medications for the treatment of TB.

"We must ensure that the medicine is available. If necessary, we can issue a presidential instruction or ministerial decree for this. Akin to what steps we have taken to handle COVID-19, TB is also a cause of concern for us," he stated.

The Health Ministry has estimated that merely 69 percent of the 845 thousand cases of TB in Indonesia were reported.

"This translates to the fact that some 540 thousand cases were found in the provinces," the ministry's Director for Communicable Disease Prevention and Control, Dr Wiendra Waworuntu, stated here on Tuesday.

Some 29 percent of the cases remain undetected.

Although the medicine for TB is available at various healthcare centers, mortality rate due to the disease remains high in Indonesia, at 13 people per hour.

The ministry has projected some 24 thousand drug-resistant TB cases and 21 thousand TB-HIV coinfection cases.

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Translator: Indra Arief P, Sri Haryati
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