"To increase case detection and reduce the TB incidence rate, we have to be more aggressive and go upstream (to understand) how someone can be infected with tuberculosis bacteria," said Imran Pambudi, the ministry's Director of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control.
He made the statement at the "Breaking the Chain of TB Transmission through Contact Investigation and TB Preventive Therapy" webinar on Friday.
He explained that contact investigation is a tracing activity for people who have close contact with TB patients.
He remarked that such effort is also followed by TB treatment if the person tested positive and TB preventive therapy (TPT) if the person tested negative.
"Without screening and TPT, our hope to achieve TB elimination by 2030 in Indonesia will not be achieved," he said.
To this end, he invited the community to be active in reporting TB cases to break the chain of TB transmission and realize TB elimination in Indonesia by 2030.
He noted that based on the Global TB Report 2023, the number of new TB cases in Indonesia is estimated at 1,060,000, with 30,000 of them being cases of drug-resistant TB.
According to Pambudi, Indonesia was able to detect 821,000 new TB cases in 2023, or 78 percent of the total number in the report.
"Even though we can detect TB patients and treat them, with the current pace, perhaps we can eliminate TB in 2045 at the earliest," he pointed out.
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Translator: Sean Filo, Raka Adji
Editor: Anton Santoso
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