As coughing is not considered a symptom of TB in children, efforts to detect childhood TB have been expanded through integration with other activities, such as stunting handling, through weight measurement at integrated service posts (posyandu).
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Health has underlined the importance of integrating tuberculosis (TB) and stunting treatment to ensure that TB cases in children are detected and treated promptly.

"In children, the symptom of TB is not coughing...but more commonly a decline in body weight, lack of appetite, fussiness, and enlarged glands in the neck," the ministry's director of communicable disease prevention and control, Imran Pambudi, said.

He made the statement during a press briefing on 2024 World TB Day in response to a question on the number of TB cases in children, which increased 2.5 times in 2023 compared to 2021. The briefing was held online on Friday.

The number of childhood TB cases increased from 42,187 in 2021 to 134,528 in 2023.

According to Pambudi, one of the factors behind the increase in cases was low case detection during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to sufferers not receiving treatment at the time and infecting others.

He said that smoking, other diseases that reduce immunity such as diabetes, and nutritional factors increase the risk of TB. Children with poor nutrition are also at risk of contracting TB, he added.

As coughing is not considered a symptom of TB in children, efforts to detect childhood TB have been expanded through integration with other activities, such as stunting handling, through weight measurement at integrated service posts (posyandu).

"Thus if, based on weight measurement, a child's body weight is considered inadequate, health workers must see what the causes are. Because maybe it is not only nutritional problems," he explained.

Besides integration, detection efforts through contact investigation are also essential for tackling TB in children.

During the press briefing, chair of the Coalition of Indonesian Professional Organizations for Tuberculosis Control (KOPI TB), Erlina Burhan, said that children are one of the groups that are vulnerable to TB because their immune system is not developed.

She informed that of the 30 percent of people infected with the bacteria that cause TB, around 5 to 10 percent immediately contract the disease, while in the rest, the bacteria remain in a dormant state.

According to her, tuberculosis preventive therapy (TPT) needs to be given to high-risk groups to prevent dormant bacteria from becoming active.

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Translator: Mecca Yumna, Raka Adji
Editor: Arie Novarina
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