The year 2045 is a very important momentum because it marks 100 years of the independence of the Indonesian nation. In that year, it is hoped that Indonesia will have a golden generation that can advance the nation. However, Indonesia still has several problems threatening the nation’s next generation, such as tuberculosis (TB). In 2022, Indonesia was ranked second for the country with the most TB cases. This is, of course, worrying, considering that TB also attacks many groups of children. Therefore, the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) Universitas Indonesia (UI) held an Online Seminar on FPH UI Series 19 with the theme “Towards Golden Indonesia 2045: Creating a Tuberculosis-Free Superior Generation”. This seminar will be held online on Saturday, November 26, 2022.
The trend of finding TB cases in Indonesia is starting to increase. These cases were mostly found in the productive age group (15-54 years) and the group of children aged 5-14 years. The high number of TB cases is certainly a challenge for Indonesia in achieving the goal of eliminating TB in Indonesia by 2030. For this reason, a concrete program from the government is needed to realize the goal of TB elimination. Doctor Imran Pambudi, M.P.H.M., Director of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (P2PM) of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia, explained the government’s TB elimination programs. “The program to accelerate TB elimination includes active and passive case finding, increasing access to services, expanding preventive therapy, and strengthening surveillance. All of these must be able to meet the 3 indicators of the TB roadmap, namely treatment coverage, success rate, and TB prevention therapy,” explained Doctor Imran.
In line with the explanation of dr. Imran, Dr. dr. RR. Diah Handayani, Sp.P (K), UI Hospital Clinical Expert Team, also explained the importance of finding active cases to break the chain of TB transmission. “TB is an infectious disease that must be treated quickly so that the bacteria that cause the disease die and do not develop resistance,” said Dr. Diah. Finding active cases can make stopping the chain of TB transmission easier. Improvements are needed to strengthen systems, techniques, knowledge, and awareness to carry out active case findings.
This online seminar also presents dr. Dimas Dwi Saputro, Sp.A., is also the Clinical Expert Team at the Children’s Hospital and Our Lady of Hope. Through his presentation, Doctor Dimas focuses on treating latent TB infections in children. Latent TB is a bacterial infection but is not accompanied by clinical evidence of active TB sufferers. In dealing with latent TB infection in children, collaboration with independent practicing doctors, private hospitals, and other parties is needed to increase awareness of this TB issue. In addition, it is also necessary to accelerate the contact tracing program, which aims to cut off the local transmission of TB. “If someone has tuberculosis and is not treated properly, it will be difficult to achieve the vision of Indonesia Gold 2045,” said Doctor Dimas.
This online seminar succeeded in attracting the enthusiasm of the wider community. Enthusiasm can be seen from the number of participants and the interactive question-and-answer session between the participants and the speakers. “Through this online seminar, it is hoped that the community will understand more about TB and be willing to make an active contribution in overcoming it,” said Dr. Ir. Asih Setiarini, M.Sc., Deputy Dean for Education, Research and Student Affairs FKM UI. (WR)
