JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health reports that five variants of tropical disease have been neglected or the National Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are still found in a number of patients in Indonesia.
"These NTDs occur in tropical areas around the world. There are 20 types. In Indonesia there are five, plus what has just been included by the World Health Organization (WHO) is rabies," said Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin after attending the 2023 World NTDs Commemoration in the TMII area. East Jakarta, Tuesday, February 21, reported by Antara.
The five variants of tropical disease are neglected in Indonesia, namely bastion, frembulation or skin infection, filariasis or elephant feet, Schistosomiasis or worms, and rabies.
Data from the Ministry of Health reports that as of January 24, 2022, 13,487 active cases were recorded, with 7,146 new findings. The Ministry of Health targets case elimination to be achieved by 2030.
With that number of cases, Indonesia is ranked third in the world after India and Brazil.
Frambusian cases caused by pertenue pallidum treponema bacteria were found in several areas of Eastern Indonesia, such as Papua and North Maluku. Elimination of frimatical cases is targeted to be achieved in 2024.
Meanwhile, filarariasis cases are reported to have endemic status in 236 regencies/cities in Indonesia through prevention efforts in the form of mass administration of drugs.
Another NTDs disease is Schistosomiasis which is now only detected in Poso and Sigi Regencies, Sulawesi Tegas. The only disease that is still endemic in Southeast Asia is targeted to achieve elimination by 2030.
For rabies cases in Indonesia, around 26 provinces are still spread, the rest are declared free of rabies.
"It is said to be a neglected disease because the order is around tens of thousands of years, not too much. The cause is pathogens, it can be viruses, bacteria, parasites, or fungi," said Minister of Health Budi.
Budi ensured that NTDs were not lethal, because medicines, diagnosis devices, and vaccines were available in the country.
"What we have to make sure is that surveillance and health protocols must be good," he said.
There are diseases that are transmitted through touch with sufferers to animals. Preventions that can be done to avoid infectious diseases caused by pathogens include maintaining distance, wearing masks, washing hands, tracing, treatment, vaccines, and therapy.
"So we have to make sure the progress, we have to maintain cleanliness, the contact must be maintained, specifically for endemic areas to be controlled. The detection can also be done clinically and ordinary microscopy can be detected," he said.
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