President Prabowo's Visit To India, Strengthens Tuberculosis Control Strategy In Indonesia

Presiden Prabowo Subianto menyaksikan parade Peringatan Ke-76 Hari Republik India di New Delhi, India. (ANTARA/Mentari Dwi Gayati)

JAKARTA - Health expert from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia (FKUI), Prof. Tjandra Yoga Aditama, revealed that President Prabowo Subianto's visit to India in commemoration of the 76th Republic Day provided an opportunity to strengthen cooperation in controlling tuberculosis (TB).

TB, which is an infectious disease that is still a global health problem, requires serious attention in its prevention efforts.

Prof. Tjandra, who previously served as Director of Infectious Diseases at WHO Southeast Asia (2015-2020) revealed that both Indonesia and India have a large contribution to the number of TB cases in the world.

"What can be learned from India, is about efforts to control the TB which is very massive in the country," he said when confirmed in Jakarta, as quoted by ANTARA.

India ranks first as the country with the most TB cases, while Indonesia is in second place. However, with India's much larger population, efforts to control TB in the country can provide many lessons for Indonesia in reducing the incidence and death rate due to TB.

Tjandra praised India's achievement in reducing the death rate due to TB from 28 per 100,000 population in 2015 to 23 per 100,000 by 2022. In addition, India has also succeeded in significantly reducing the number of deaths due to TB, from 494,000 cases in 2021 to 331,000 cases in 2022.

One of the other important achievements is that India has succeeded in achieving the treatment target at 95% of TB patients by 2023, which can be used as a reference for other countries, including Indonesia.

This success cannot be separated from the great role of government health facilities, as well as the increasing contribution of the private sector. In 2015, the private sector handled 190,000 TB cases, and in 2023, this figure jumped to 840,000 cases. Tjandra suggested that Indonesia could take advantage of India's experience in involving more private sectors in controlling TB.

In addition, Tjandra emphasized the importance of approaches targeting TB risk factors, such as malnutrition, HIV, diabetes, alcohol, and smoking habits. For TB patients who are malnourished, the Indian government provides support in the form of monthly money assistance and food baskets. This program, according to Tjandra, can be taken into consideration by the Indonesian government to increase the effectiveness of controlling TB in the country.

"HIV increases the risk of TB up to 20 times, while diabetes increases the risk 2-3 times and is related to the resistance of TB drugs. These factors are big challenges that we must deal with," he said.

In addition, Tjandra also conveyed the importance of taking into account higher risks for TB sufferers who also suffer from HIV and diabetes. HIV infection can increase the risk of TB by up to 20 times, while diabetes can increase the risk 2-3 times and be related to the resistance of TB drugs. Therefore, overcoming these risk factors is a big challenge in efforts to control TB in Indonesia.

As a further step, Tjandra suggested that Indonesia consider the issuance of a similar report with the 2024 India TB Report to increase transparency in TB control.

This report can be an important tool to evaluate the extent to which TB's control policies run and how effective their achievements are.

By learning from India's experience, Indonesia can develop policies that are more comprehensive and effective in dealing with TB, so that it is expected to significantly reduce the incidence and death rate due to this disease.