"Indonesia uses the G20 Presidency as an opportunity to eliminate TB globally by increasing financing globally to the community," Budijanto noted during a virtual media gathering for the commemoration of World TB Day 2022, accessed here on Tuesday.
Budijanto noted that TB is a main health problem in the world, including in Indonesia. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2021 reported around 9.9 million cases of TB in the world.
Meanwhile, Indonesia ranked third after India and China, with 824 thousand cases and reaching 93 thousand deaths per year. "If divided by time, it is equivalent to 11 deaths per hour due to TB in Indonesia," he remarked.
He pointed out that 91 percent of the TB cases in Indonesia are pulmonary TB that can potentially infect healthy people.
"One TB case has the potential to infect 15 people," he pointed out.
The COVID-19 pandemic has hampered case tracking efforts in Indonesia. From the estimated number of TB cases in the country, reaching 824 thousand patients, only 49 percent of them were successfully detected and treated.
Budijanto affirmed that the government is striving to break the chain of TB transmission by tracking cases, so that transmission can be prevented as early as possible and regular treatment can be provided until patients recover.
He noted that investment in TB control efforts in Indonesia had been integrated with the COVID-19 pandemic control program, including the fulfillment of human resources, procurement of various diagnostic tools to all provinces, and the development of infrastructure for handling TB cases.
Moreover, the Ministry of Health has initiated a large-scale TB screening program by utilizing artificial intelligence X-Ray equipment to provide fast and efficient TB diagnosis results.
"Good investment in TB control can build preparedness for other pandemics of airborne infections in the future," he remarked.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Raka Adji
Editor: Suharto
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