RI, US boost partnership against TB
Indonesia and the US have launched a new Tuberculosis (TB) program to accelerate efforts to eliminate the contagious bacterial infection.
The USAID’s Community Empowerment of People Against Tuberculosis (CEPAT) program is aimed at supporting the Indonesian government’s efforts to fight against TB and increase access to quality and early TB diagnosis and treatment.
“Community engagement is a new key component for our program,” said USAID mission director Andrew Sisson in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
He was speaking during the joint launch of the CEPAT program with the Health Ministry’s director general of disease control and environmental health Tjandra Yoga Aditama.
Sisson said the project developed local community models to advocate and provide support for patients and to better engage communities in the fight against TB and Multidrug Resistance (MDR) TB.
“More people with symptoms need to get tested and they need to be supported to complete their treatment and be cured. We are proud to partner with the Health Ministry and support their excellent TB program,” he said.
The CEPAT program aims to increase the number of people who get tested for, treated, and cured of TB in nine provinces. They are Banten, DKI Jakarta, East Java, North Sumatra, Papua, West Java, West Nusa Tenggara, West Papua and West Sumatra.
The program targets people most vulnerable to TB, such as those who live in urban slums, displaced and mobile populations, the uninsured and people with reduced immunity due to malnourishment or HIV infection.
Three Indonesian organizations – the Nahdlatul Ulama Healthcare Institution (LKNU), Community Health Network (JKM), and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Timika (RCD) – will implement the program which was designed in close collaboration with the national TB program.
Source:
Jakarta Post
