Indonesia intensifies tuberculosis battle with national strategy, vaccine innovation

JAKARTA: : Indonesia is intensifying its fight against tuberculosis (TB) as the country marks World TB Day on Tuesday, rolling out a series of strategic measures to curb infections, improve case detection, and accelerate progress toward its ambitious goal of eliminating the disease by 2030.

TB remains a major public health challenge in Indonesia. According to the Global TB Report 2024, the country has the second-highest TB burden in the world, after India. It is estimated to record around 1.09 million TB cases and 125,000 deaths each year, equivalent to roughly 14 deaths every hour.

"The medicine exists and is very effective, but the disease has never been fully resolved," Indonesian Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said during a recent hearing in the House of Representatives in Jakarta.

He stressed that Indonesia is stepping up efforts to tackle the high number of cases through coordinated national strategies and improvements in health system performance. The country is working to ensure that one million TB patients are identified and linked to treatment within a year, with a treatment success rate targeted at 90 per cent, he added.