At The UN Event, Minister Of Health Budi Speaks Firmly: Stop Talking, Start Working On Tuberculosis

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin (Photo: DOK ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin invites health stakeholders in the United Nations (UN) to jointly stop discussing and take action to overcome tuberculosis (TB). "Come on, stop gathering and talk. Start working on TB," said the Minister of Health at a side event on TB, as part of the agenda of the UN General Assembly's High Level Meeting on Health, which was followed online in Jakarta, Antara, Friday, September 21. Minister of Health Budi emphasized that meetings and discussions were unable to alleviate TB. This is because the increase in the discovery of TB cases in Indonesia begins with movement, not chat. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2022, reported that Indonesia is predicted to have 969,000 TB cases. However, at the same time, TB cases detected in Indonesia only reached around 560,000 cases. "Then where are the 400,000? In the end, we (Indonesia) took the initiative to immediately implement a program to look for TB cases that have not been revealed," the Minister of Health told the audience. From the implementation of these programs, said the Minister of Health, there was a surge in TB detection to around 724,000 cases. This reaped the appreciation of the audience consisting of world stakeholders in the field of TB. In addition, he continued, this also encourages a number of world health institutions and manufacturing to conduct various clinical trials in Indonesia, one of which is in the field of TB vaccination. The Minister of Health is optimistic that community involvement with many people working together for one goal of completing TB will produce appropriate results. "It is the largest asset we have. It must be executed, but together, because it is impossible to do it alone," he said. On Wikipedia, said the Minister of Health, there was various information about TB, which started at TB in the early phase, TB during the renaissance era, TB in the 80s and 90s, until now. The information also states that TB has existed for thousands of years.

"One more thing, we have to dare to dream. If we work together, we will be able to see a new chapter on Wikipedia, namely The End of TB (the end of TB)," said Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin.