Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Urges Students to Lead Tuberculosis Response

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Akhmad Wiyagus is encouraging the mobilisation of students from university consortia to act as the frontline in strengthening tuberculosis (TBC) management down to the village level.

According to Wiyagus, involving students can help overcome the limitations of healthcare personnel, particularly in case tracking and providing direct education to the community.

“The presence of the Higher Education ranks brings not just a breath of fresh air, but fresh blood for us, because the Deputy Minister of Health and I are visiting not only at the provincial and regency levels, but down to the sub-district and village levels,” Wiyusc said in a statement in Jakarta on Friday.

This was conveyed by the Deputy Minister during the Coordination Meeting of the University Consortium in Supporting Tuberculosis Management at the Office of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, Jakarta, on Thursday (3/9).

Wiyagus also outlined the strategic stages of TBC management, which targets at least 90 per cent of suspected TBC cases receiving diagnostic examinations. Similar targets have also been set for contact tracing and patient treatment success. Achieving these indicators is considered vital to ensuring that TBC management is comprehensive and thorough.

To this end, he requested that local governments ensure TBC management programmes are included in regional planning and budgeting documents, specifically the Regional Budget (APBD).

Budgetary support is required to ensure that the collaboration between local governments, universities, and students can be sustained.

“This health issue is a mandatory government matter related to basic services; therefore, it is obligatory for local governments to include tuberculosis health management in planning documents, ranging from the RPJMD (Regional Long-Term Development Plan) and RKPD (Regional Government Work Plan) to the APBD,” he explained.

Wiyagus expressed appreciation for this cross-sector collaboration and hopes that this collective movement can accelerate the achievement of the national TBC elimination target within the next three years.

“We at the Ministry of Home Affairs, as the implementer of the function of guidance and supervision of local government administration, will not tire of this, as it is part of the President’s priority programme, which targets the elimination of tuberculosis within three years,” he added.