Poverty blamed for spread tuberculosis
Suherdjoko and Rusman, The Jakarta Post, Semarang/Samarinda
The number of tuberculosis sufferers increased to 36,820, with 12,000 fatalities, in Central Java province this year and that number is expected to go higher due partly to poverty, a local health official said on Friday.
Central Java health office head Krishnajaya said that the sufferers were among about 583,000 people, who have contracted TB throughout the country with some 140,000 fatalities each year.
He added that only 28.3 percent had access to medication.
"From 10 sufferers, 75 percent of them are in their productive years and 60 percent are poor people," Krishnajaya said on the sidelines of a World Tuberculosis Day event.
He said the increase in the number of TB sufferers was because of the fact that people were ashamed of admitting that they had it.
Besides, the sufferers were mostly low-income people, unable to afford treatment.
"TB and poverty are apparently part of a vicious circle that makes the situation worse. To overcome this, efforts must be made to break the cycle of the spread on one hand and eradicate poverty on the other," Krishnajya said.
He said that since 1993, special preventive measures to fight TB had been successfully implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO), which declared TB a Global Emergency.
Part of an effective strategy was promoting a program called DOTS (Direct Observed Treatment Shortcourse), he said, adding that it had significantly increased recovery rates.
Krishnajaya said TB patients could be cured by regularly taking medication for between six and eight months.
He called on the sufferers to get examined by their condition at local health community centers (Puskesmas) free of charge.
Meanwhile in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, the number of TB sufferers hit at least 3,134 but only 806 of them were detected with a cure rate reaching 73 percent.
Sogiyanto, duty manager at the East Kalimantan Health office, blamed on Friday filthy living conditions and low awareness on the part of sufferers for the spread of TB in the province.
Apart from that, inadequate facilities, poor human resources and lack of funds were also part of the problems hampering efforts to fight TB, he added.
He said poverty also contributed to the increase in the number of TB patients.
However, he said it seemed ironic that with the annual budget of Rp 3 trillion (US$353 million) for East Kalimantan, the spread of TB should have been able to be curbed.
"Therefore, to minimize the spread of the disease, regencies and municipalities have set up an Indonesian Tuberculosis Eradication Association (PPTI)," Sogiyanto added.
PPTI's tasks include educating people on TB eradication and providing training sessions.