"By considering resources, the burden of TB in their respective regions, as well as existing supports, we will speed up TB alleviation in eight provinces without neglecting the other 26 provinces," Pakasi informed during an awareness webinar regarding the Establishment of the Multi-Sectoral TB Management Forum, accessed from Jakarta on Thursday.
The eight provinces are Jakarta, Central Java, West Java, East Java, Banten, North Sumatra, South Sulawesi, and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), she said. By drawing representatives from 26 other provinces, it is hoped that TB reduction efforts can cover at least 61 percent of the estimated number of existing cases, which is currently pegged at 824 thousand, she added.
For the eight provinces, the government will take into account every important indicator for eliminating TB. Under the plan, the government will target at least 193 districts/cities, 178,515,772 people, and 500,284 TB cases.
"We are considering the population, the notification of old cases, infrastructure availability, and human resource availability who will succeed this acceleration program," Pakasi remarked.
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In the eight provinces, there is still a treatment coverage gap, she noted. The government has estimated the number of TB cases to be 500,284, however, the number of diagnosed cases has reached only 304,080, with the number of patients undergoing treatment pegged at 274,298.
Pakasi assured that the Ministry of Health, together with external parties, such as civil society organizations and related stakeholders, will continue to work together to reduce TB cases to 65 per 100,000 population and the TB death rate to 6 per 100,000 population by 2030.
"We are working together to accelerate this TB elimination. We have identified colleagues from CSOs and other additional sectors, whether it is from global fund support or other international partners," she noted.
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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma S, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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