Minister Of Health: The DHF Handling Approach Must Be Comprehensive

DOC VOI

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said dengue cases in Indonesia cause a high burden of disease, besides that dengue is a vector infectious disease, so the approach must be comprehensive.

"We have to control the vector, namely mosquitoes, but also deal with humans through accurate diagnostics and proper case management (treatment). Thus, transmission can be stopped and death can be prevented," Budi said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, March 28.

He said the death rate for dengue cases in Indonesia was relatively high over the last 4 years. In 2021, there were 705 deaths, an increase to 1,236 cases in 2022, then decreased to 8894 cases in 2023. As of March 18, 2024, 316 deaths were recorded.

Therefore, the Ministry of Health and the Joint Coalition (Kobar) Against Dengue is trying to achieve the target set by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is zero deaths due to dengue by 2030. As for achieving the zero target of death due to dengue, the Ministry of Health has four strategies, namely promotive and preventive, surveillance, medical intervention, and therapeutic.

Previously, WHO had set the goal of elimination or zero deaths due to dengue in 2030. Furthermore, the Indonesian House of Representatives Health Caucus and the Ministry of Health launched Kobar Lawan Dengue in September 2023 as a platform for joint efforts to support the achievement of this goal in Indonesia.

To continue the momentum that has been built since the launch of the coalition, coalition activities need to be carried out immediately in order to maximize their function. For this reason, the Indonesian House of Representatives' Health T-shirt in collaboration with the Ministry of Health held a working meeting and FGD Kobar Lawan Dengue on Thursday (28/3).

The coalition held a meeting involving stakeholders to identify the main problems related to the handling of dengue in Indonesia, as well as formulate the right program plans.