Future of Public Health: Mobilizing COVID-19 Partnerships for Forgotten Diseases
Translator
Editor
28 May 2022 11:05 WIB
Forgotten Diseases: TB and Pneumonia
While the COVID-19 momentum is fresh, we can direct the same modalities used to fight COVID-19 to address epidemiologically similar respiratory diseases such as TB and pneumonia, both of which contribute to high mortality in Indonesia.
TB and pneumonia are often forgotten as they disproportionately affect those with lower income – both in Indonesia and globally. The majority of cases worldwide are found in developing countries. While TB and pneumonia are not exclusively diseases of the poor, risks are heightened in communities that experience nutritional and welfare deprivations compounded by poverty, such as malnutrition, indoor air pollution, or lack of access to primary healthcare. Left undiagnosed and untreated, the two preventable diseases become lethal.
Until COVID-19, TB was the world’s deadliest infectious disease, with 10 million new infections and 1.4 million deaths worldwide in 2019. Global TB mitigation targets are mostly off-track and for the first time in over a decade, TB deaths have increased due to reduced diagnosis and treatment access.
While Indonesia has the world’s second-highest TB burden, Indonesia is still rife with shortcomings in detection, prevention, and post-diagnosis treatment for TB. According to the nation’s Ministry of Health, only 49% of the estimated 824.000 new cases were detected and treated last year, which means that nearly half a million people have not been treated and are at risk of becoming a transmission source.
Pneumonia is another critical respiratory illness. Globally and in Indonesia, pneumonia is the leading cause of death among children under five, leading to over 800.000 deaths a year, or one child every 39 seconds. In 2018, Indonesia was ranked sixth highest in pneumonia-related mortality in children under five, with an estimated 19.000 deaths.
In line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Indonesia has set commendable targets to end TB by 2030 and roll out nationwide children's pneumonia vaccination by 2024.
The question is, how can we leverage the existing COVID-19 systemic capacity to achieve such targets?
Mobilizing COVID-19 Modalities for TB and Pneumonia in Indonesia
We can leverage COVID-19-generated systems to address two prevalent deficits in the TB and Pneumonia landscape: public health information and infrastructure logistics.
First, we can activate COVID-19 public health information channels to socialize TB and pneumonia framing as urgent, collective threats, as well as information regarding their detection, prevention, and treatment mechanisms. These information channels include COVID-19 digital platforms and community information networks. The current national COVID-19 surveillance system can also be beefed up to track-and-trace cases and ensure those who have been diagnosed receive proper treatment.
Second, we can mindfully redirect any unused COVID-19 logistics to improve accessibility to TB and pneumonia detection, preventive measures such as vaccination, and treatment, especially in more remote areas. Such COVID-19 logistics include telemedicine company-supported drug distribution for COVID-19 patients in isolation.
A healthy global future is impossible without tackling forgotten diseases. Addressing such diseases would be impossible without acceleration in solidarity and meaningful public, private, and community partnerships as seen amid COVID-19. To start with TB and pneumonia does not mean that we end with them. There are many other forgotten diseases, which we should take calibrated steps to address. Let’s not let COVID-19 pain go to waste.
*) DISCLAIMER
Articles published in the “Your Views & Stories” section of en.tempo.co website are personal opinions written by third parties, and cannot be related or attributed to en.tempo.co’s official stance.
