More than 2.4 million people across ASEAN are estimated to be affected by tuberculosis (TB), based on the Global TB Report 2023. In Brunei, an estimated 260 people were diagnosed with TB in 2022, leading to 23 deaths. Five ASEAN member countries (Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) are on the World Health Organization (WHO) high burden TB list. The five major risk factors are: undernourishment, smoking, alcohol use disorders, diabetes and HIV.
The COVID-19 pandemic had devastated national TB prevention and treatment programmes as personnel and resources were redirected from TB to COVID-19, leading to an estimated increase of almost half a million additional deaths of TB from 2020 to 2022.
These were revealed in a statement announcing the launch of the Airborne Infection Defense Platform (AIDP) yesterday to strengthen ASEAN member countries’ TB response, healthcare systems and pandemic preparedness to address the growing issue of airborne respiratory infections.
The initiative was inaugurated at a side event of the 16th ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting (AHMM).
AIDP is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Stop TB Partnership and Stop TB Partnership Indonesia (STPI), a non-governmental organisation that works towards the elimination of TB.
STPI senior advisor and AIDP project lead Professor Tjandra Yoga Aditama said, “The high death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic showed that the world was not prepared to combat the pandemic. In addition to the loss of human life, COVID-19 also severely impacted TB prevention, access, and treatment programmes. The condition of TB in ASEAN is quite concerning, with many countries in the region still facing significant challenges in controlling and managing TB. This demonstrates the importance of working with ASEAN to strengthen the TB response system to not only create surge capacity for TB cases but also enhance pandemic preparedness.”
TB has a high mortality rate of almost 15 per cent, compared to COVID-19, which stands at 3.5 per cent. A research showed that TB prevention and treatment was significantly affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, where TB case detection decreased, household transmission of TB increased, BCG vaccination rates dropped, and access to TB drugs and testing declined.
