USAID MENTARI TB: Enhancing Tuberculosis Services in Private Hospital Networks

Context

Indonesia has the second highest tuberculosis (TB) burden in the world, with an estimated 1,060,000 TB cases in 2022. To achieve the elimination of TB by 2030, significant improvements in case detection and treatment are vital. To that end, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) partners with Muhammadiyah, a faith-based organization which operates as one of the largest private hospital chains in Indonesia.

The Government of Indonesia’s National TB Program (NTP) can help ensure effective diagnosis, services, and treatment for all by collaborating with private health providers. Given its size and coverage, the Muhammadiyah network is a key partner for the NTP in realizing its goal to eliminate TB in Indonesia by 2030. In 2022, Muhammadiyah reported 12,167 TB cases detected at 48 hospitals, which is an average of 253 cases per hospital, solidifying its crucial role in eliminating TB in Indonesia.

USAID Mentari TB

USAID Mentari TB works with Muhammadiyah hospitals to find more TB cases and provide quality treatment. The activity aims to enhance the detection of TB cases by expanding the scope of active case finding — the way we screen, diagnose, and link people to treatment — within Muhammadiyah hospitals. With USAID support, Muhammadiyah has established Drug-Resistant TB (DR TB) services in 10 hospitals and strengthened them to become referral hospitals. Now, Muhammadiyah has a total of 12 DR TB referral hospitals that can receive and treat DR TB patients within as well as outside of the Muhammadiyah network.

Muhammadiyah’s emphasis on promoting community-based services is also crucial to assist contact tracing, encourage presumptive TB patients to get tested, collect and transport TB specimens, deliver TB drugs to patients, and get more people to both start and complete treatment. In line with the NTP's strategy to accelerate prevention measures to reduce the incidence of TB nationwide, USAID Mentari TB will perform TB screening through close contact investigation and provide TB preventive treatment, especially for household contacts of DR TB patients.

USAID Mentari TB works with 101 Muhammadiyah-affiliated hospitals in 72 districts across 16 provinces.

Key Results

Hingga September 2023, USAID Mentari TB has:

Established DR TB outpatient and inpatient services at 10 referral hospitals;
Facilitated treatment of 360 DR TB patients in six Muhammadiyah hospitals;
Helped 48 hospitals in nine provinces to implement active case finding; and
Enabled 48 Muhammadiyah hospitals to screen more than six million people and treat over 22,000 patients for TB.