What will your reaction be if there is a global news media reporting that Indonesia’s health situation is at an alarming stage? Do you agree, disagree, or have no comment? Whether you are fully aware of the national health situation and where the country is heading right now, it was reported that Bill Gates, a Microsoft co-founder and co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a well-known philanthropist, visited Indonesia and met with President Prabowo Subianto (Karmini & Ibrahim, 2025). The two gentlemen discussed interesting and essential topics, such as health and the sustainable development initiative. The bottom line of this discussion was to explore the potential for Indonesia to serve as the testing ground for the newly developed TB vaccine, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The question now is, where does Indonesia stand as a country in terms of its tuberculosis disease burden?
The World Health Organization’s 2021 report, as shown in Figure 1 below, indicates a significant increase in Indonesia’s tuberculosis incidence over the last five years.
Figure 1.
Tuberculosis incidence in Indonesia
This significant leap is attributed to the lack of awareness of early tuberculosis symptoms and inconsistent medication adherence (Iswahyudi, 2025).
In February 2025, APISI and I conducted a virtual workshop titled “Below 45 Initiative.” In the workshop, I explained the importance of reading and understanding statistical data and reports, such as the Human Development Index (HDI), for educators, librarians, and information professionals. Health, one of the three indicators that construct the HDI, needs to be observed and monitored to measure the attainment by 2045.
As educators, librarians, and information professionals, what role can we play in helping our
community and government address this challenge before 2045?
References
Iswahyudi. (2025, May 25). Lonjakan kasus TBC di Indonesia 2025: Penyebab utama, data
terbaru, dan tantangan pengobatan lengkap. Pikiran Rakyat Jabar. https://jabar.pikiran
rakyat.com/nasional/pr-3659355333/lonjakan-kasus-tbc-di-indonesia-2025-penyebab
utama-data-terbaru-dan-tantangan-pengobatan-lengkap
Karmini, N., & Ibrahim, A. (2025. May 7). Bill Gates meets Indonesian leader to discuss health
and sustainable development initiatives. Associated Press.
https://apnews.com/article/indonesia-bill-gates-prabowo-subianto-free-nutritious-meals
ae4e82867e8d909945d8b5e5490fabca
World Health Organization. (2024). https://data.who.int/countries/360
