President Joko Widodo is preparing a regulation to combat tuberculosis (TBC) in Indonesia.
“The president is making efforts to ensure smooth cooperation among ministries and institutions in order to prepare a presidential regulation on combating TBC,” stated Chief of the Stop TB Partnership Forum for Indonesia (FSTPI), Arifin Panigoro.
Through the presidential regulation, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Home Affairs and other relevant ministries can partake in efforts to eradicate the lung disease.
“As we all know, regions in Indonesia have strong autonomy, so regional heads, including governors and district heads, play a very important role,” he noted.
As a civil organization, the FSTPI remains resolved to fight TBC in Indonesia. “We will report this to the presidents of Indonesia, China, and India that bear witness to the largest number of TBC cases in the world, so they must be serious about combating it,” he added.
The world has set a target of becoming TBC free in a decade’s time, or by 2030. The global tuberculosis report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that no single country is free from the disease.
In 2017, an estimated 842,000 Indonesians contracted TB, caused by the mycobacterium tuberculosis virus, of which 23,000 developed drug resistance to the disease. Almost 75 percent of TB sufferers in Indonesia are of working age.
The situation is a threat to fulfilling one of the agendas of the medium-term development plan 2020-2024, in which the country is striving to improve the quality and competitive edge of it’s human resources.
TB is a global disease found in every country across the world. It is the leading infectious cause of death worldwide. In 2018, an estimated 10 million people contracted TB worldwide, comprised of 5.7 million men, 3.2 million women, and 1.1 million children. The cases transcended countries and age groups.
Source: Tempo
Image: Tempo