The new tuberculosis prevention therapy medicine that has been approved by WHO is a combination of high-dose isoniazid and high-dose rifapentine, and is only given to patients once a week for three months.

Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) plans to provide tuberculosis (TB) prevention therapeutic medicine for 145,070 people in Indonesia worth 1,523,235 U.S. dollars.

The Director of the USAID Health Office, Eni Martin, told a press briefing at the United States Embassy here on Monday (March 25), on the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day, specifically regarding the 'USAID Tuberculosis Program in Indonesia'.

She pointed out that previously TB patients need large doses of medication with a treatment period of at least 11 months.

“The new medicine that has been approved by WHO is a short-term prevention therapeutic medicine that combines high-dose isoniazid and high-dose rifapentine, at a price that is 30 percent lower than before. This medicine is given once a week for three months," she explained, while emphasizing that the key to treating and curing TB is patient’s compliance in completing treatment.

According to her, the delivery of tuberculosis prevention therapy medicine from USAID is part of the U.S. government's global efforts to combat TB, which since 2000 has allotted funds worth 4.7 billion U.S. dollars and succeeded in saving 75 million lives worldwide.

"In Indonesia, tuberculosis is ranked fourth in terms of deaths, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), with the second highest TB burden in the world," said Martin, adding that there were 1,060,000 new cases discovered in Indonesia, with 134,000 deaths every year.

"This means that there is one person infected with TB every 30 seconds in Indonesia," she noted.

TB which caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is very easily transmitted. However, "to break the TB, we have to encourage patients to get treatment from an early stage until they recover completely," Martin added.

She further said that not all cases of tuberculosis could be diagnosed, and "if they are not diagnosed then the patient does not receive treatment."

"Indonesia has made progress in TB diagnosis in the last year, supported by collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Health and various hospitals in identifying and treating TB cases," she said.

In addition, she continued, USAID also collaborates with groups at the community level, such as community health centers (Puskesmas) and community’s health activity for mothers and children (lPosyandu), to maximize efforts to build public awareness about early detection of TB and that this disease can be cured with available and affordable treatment and medicine.

WHO states that TB most often affects the lungs, and spread through the air when people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit.

About a quarter of the global population is estimated to be infected with TB bacteria. About 5-10 percent of people infected with TB will eventually show symptoms and develop TB disease in their body.

Reporting by Bambang Purwanto