Tuberculosis is one of the top four causes of death in Indonesia, claiming the lives of an estimated 100,000 people each year. The country has the second highest burden of the disease in the world and new strains have emerged in recent years that are resistant to existing treatment (known as Drug Resistant TB or DR-TB). DR-TB causes immense hardship for patients and poses a significant challenge to health workers. The Sustainable Development Goals have set a target (SDG 3.3) to end the epidemic of TB and other communicable diseases by 2030.
(Stock photo assignment for UNDP Indonesia. For the full story from the mission, visit https://medium.com/undp-in-asia-and-the-pacific/defeating-drug-resistant-tb-in-indonesia-a-human-face-9d0ac70ee143 done by photographer Fauzan Ijazah)
Junaedi lives in this community. He is a “Bajaj” driver (a local form of taxi), a husband, a father of two, and a person living with DR-TB. He was first diagnosed with TB in 2011 and was placed on the standard treatment regimen.
The Duren Sawit sub-district in East Jakarta is one such community. With a population of just over 300,000, close to a thousand cases of TB were confirmed in 2016.
Junaedi receives his medicines from a nurse at Persahabatan hospital.
Junaedi keeps fighting for the sake of his family.