10 March 2020 | Indonesia has the third highest burden of tuberculosis in the world, following only after China and India. Even though Indonesia has made remarkable progress over the last decade, tuberculosis (TB) still remains one of the top four causes of death in the country, costing the lives of 65.000 people every year.
During the health mission to Indonesia in 2018, Task Force Health Care (TFHC) managed to include tuberculosis screening in the bilateral agreement to cooperate more in the field of health between the Ministry of Health Indonesia and Ministry of Health, Welfare & Sport of the Netherlands and helped to connect Delft Imaging to important TB stakeholders.
On March 10th, during a governmental Economic Mission from the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Republic of Indonesia, an agreement was signed to implement artificial intelligence software as an aid in the fight against tuberculosis (TB) in Indonesia. The agreement was signed between the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia, Delft Imaging from the Netherlands and IDBH Senso from the Netherlands. In the presence of the Ministry of Health representatives from both countries, the parties involved revealed a framework of cooperation in the field of tuberculosis control in Indonesia in which the artificial intelligence software has been designated to support the detection of TB in Indonesia.
The software, called Computer-Aided Detection for Tuberculosis (CAD4TB) is implemented by Delft Imaging in the Netherlands and developed in close cooperation with its sister company Thirona. CAD4TB automatically analyses standard chest X-ray images to identify abnormalities that are indicative of tuberculosis so that suspect cases can be rapidly followed up and tested for the presence of TB, further optimizing TB case detection in Indonesia.
The first phase of the pilot has already started; CAD4TB is being used to screen for tuberculosis in two prisons and a factory in Jakarta. The agreement that was signed now paves the way to incorporate the software in other provinces as well.
Want to know more about healthcare in Indonesia?
Please contact TFHC Programme Manager
Erik Pentinga
P:+31 (0) 70 21 99 007
