This information was delivered by the ministry's acting director general of disease control, Murti Utami, at the Working Committee Meeting for Supervision of National Health Insurance with Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) in Jakarta on Wednesday.
"For TB prevention, Indonesia is involved in the clinical trial for TB vaccine development. We hope that by 2028 or 2029, this TB vaccine will be available to reduce TB cases," she remarked.
On that occasion, she also outlined the ministry's policy to accelerate TB elimination through several stages.
The first stage involves conducting widespread screening using X-rays and integrating the Free Health Check (CKG) program currently underway.
This is followed by expanding access to TB diagnostics at health facilities, strengthening the SatuSehat TB information system, providing incentives for TB case finding at Primary Health Facilities (FKTP), improving the specimen transportation system, and enhancing services and development at Drug-Resistant TB Hospitals.
At the treatment stage, Utami explained that the ministry will expand and provide the latest TB drug regimens, enabling patients to complete treatment in six months instead of the previous 12 months.
The ministry will also offer Professional Credit Units for health workers who monitor TB patient treatment, incentives for successful treatment at FKTP, expansion of support for cadres and communities, alerts and reminders for health facilities and patients, and expanded TB e-learning at Plataran Sehat.
In terms of prevention, Utami highlighted the ministry's efforts to provide medication for people diagnosed with latent TB, conduct TB vaccine research targeting implementation in 2028, deliver TB infection training, implement policies for household contacts who test negative for TB to receive Tuberculosis Prevention Therapy (TPT) directly, and integrate Active Case Finding (ACF) with TPT provision.
In terms of health promotion and multi-sector involvement, several actions include disseminating information about TB detection, discovery and treatment; strengthening and expanding support for cadres and communities, including expanding TB alert villages and sub-districts; building healthy homes; and maintaining ongoing communication, information, and education efforts.
Meanwhile, the target for TB case detection is set to increase from 856,420 patients in 2024 to 981 thousand patients in 2025, with a budget of Rp1.47 trillion (US$86 million). The treatment target is 931,950 patients, up from the previous 788 thousand, with a budget of Rp663 billion (US$39 million).
Furthermore, TB prevention efforts are aimed at 100 thousand people, with a budget of Rp182 billion (US$10 million).
For the health promotion, cross-sector budgets, and management support, each effort will be funded with Rp15.29 billion (US$900 thousand) and Rp107.6 billion (US$6,3 billion).
The budget required for the TB control program in 2025 amounts to Rp2.4 trillion (US$141 million).
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Translator: M Baqir Idrus A, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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