Tuberculosis Elimination in Malaysia by 2035: Linkages and Implications to SDGs

Abstract

Good health and wellbeing (SDG 3) is a fundamental human right for all. The main determinant for good health and wellbeing critically depends on equitable access to good health care (SDG 10) consisting of a combination of strong primary health care (PHC) oriented around community and efficacious public health services (PHS) based upon hospital and professional services. The world including Malaysia has achieved dramatic improvement in the delivery of health services due to advances in socio-economic development. Yet several diseases remain a daunting challenge to sustainable development goals (SDGs). A disease of the poor and the impoverished, tuberculosis (TB) is the leading infectious disease that kills more than a million people each year worldwide. Tuberculosis infection and disease progression are primarily driven by socio-economic and cultural factors such as poor living conditions, poor nutrition and misplaced cultural beliefs. Yet, management of TB has been mainly biomedical, without addressing the socio-economic and cultural drivers, since the 1940s. Given the status of ineffective management, TB will continue to pose a real threat to SDGs, especially among the poor and susceptible populations in many parts of the world, including Malaysia. This paper addresses global issues regarding TB management in the context of SDGs and suggests reorientation of health care towards PHC to accelerate achievement of SDG 3 and other broader SDGs. A detailed case study on Malaysian health care for TB is presented to review the needs for change in TB management strategy. The paper proposes policy and program modification necessary to achieve by 2035 the WHO End TB Strategy goals and UN SDGs. Index Terms-Tuberculosis in Malaysia, primary health care, UN-SDG, WHO End TB strategy.

Facilitators and barriers for tuberculosis preventive treatment among patients with latent tuberculosis infection: a qualitative study

“…Malaysia is an intermediate TB burden country by WHO [ 6 ], with an incidence of 72.57 cases per 100,000 population in 2020, and a mortality rate of 7.12% [ 7 ]. As part of the WHO End TB strategy, the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Malaysia aims to eliminate TB by the year 2035 through various policies and programs [ 8 ]. The national strategic plan to treat LTBI in Malaysia began in September 2020 with the free availability of TPT at public healthcare clinics aimed at reducing the progression of LTBI among high-risk individuals to active TB [ 9 ].…”