The Implementation of Comprehensive Health Education to Improve Household Contacts' Participation in Early Detection of Tuberculosis.

Lack of participation of household contacts is the main problem of early detection of tuberculosis (TB) in Indonesia. A comprehensive health education (CHE) program has been developed to encourage the participation of household contacts. This study aimed to assess the implementation of the CHE to improve participation of household contacts in early detection of TB. This was a quasi-experimental study conducted between November 2018 and June 2019 in Badung District, Bali, Indonesia. Twelve public health centers (PHCs) were randomly allocated to six PHCs implementing the CHE and six PHCs implementing standard health education (SHE). The CHE was developed through a pilot study using the health belief model supplemented with perceived stigma and social support to identify the factors that influence participation. The participation was measured using a TB register with a cross-check to the health care officer until 2 months after health education was provided. Four hundred and twenty-eight household contacts enrolled in this study-216 in the CHE group and 212 in the SHE group. The CHE group's participation was 28.2%, with 10 new TB cases found; in the SHE group, the participation was 15.6%, with 3 new TB cases found. The CHE increased the household contact participation by 1.83-fold (95% confidence interval [1.19, 2.81]) and case findings by 3.13-fold (95% confidence interval [0.85, 11.56]). The CHE implementation should be scaled up to other areas with a high level of TB transmission. The content and technique of the CHE could also be incorporated in contact investigation guidelines and materials for the TB campaign.

Implementation of smoke-free law in Denpasar Bali: Between compliance and social norms of smoking.

Background: Since 2013, City of Denpasar government has adopted a smoke-free law. Implementation of the law faces several obstacles, partly due to the high social acceptability of smoking in the city, where cigarette and smoking has been deeply engrained within social life and become part of hospitality. This study aims to assess the smoke-free law compliance and to explore the social norms that may affect the compliance. Design and Methods: The study was a mix of cross-sectional compliance survey and qualitative exploration conducted in Denpasar in 2019. Survey included 538 samples, which were selected using stratified random sampling and a walking protocol. The qualitative data was collected through in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) in four sub-districts of Denpasar. Results: Of the 538 venues, 32.9% complied with the seven compliance indicators. The university has the highest compliance (83.3%), while public places including worship places have a low compliance. The three most common violations were the absence of no-smoking signage (58.6%), provision of ashtray (17.5%), and smell of tobacco smoke (15.8%). The poor compliance was related to the lack of awareness of the regulation, and the fact that smoking is highly acceptable and part of the culture. The informants highlighted the essential role of public figures and potency of local policy as social disapproval of smoking. Conclusions: Compliance to the smoke-free law in Denpasar remains low, continuous education, socialization and improved supervision are crucial. Meanwhile, social and cultural acceptance of smoking is considered as an essential factor that hampers the implementation of the smoke free law.

Mortality among people living with HIV on antiretroviral treatment in Bali, Indonesia: incidence and predictors.

Indonesia has the third highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH) and the greatest increase in proportion of AIDS-related mortality in the Asia Pacific region between 2005 and 2013. Longitudinal mortality data among PLWH in Indonesia are limited. We conducted a retrospective cohort study from medical records of antiretroviral treatment (ART) recipients attending Badung General Hospital (BGH) and Bali Medica Clinic (BMC) between 2006 and 2014. We explored incidence of mortality by Kaplan-Meier analysis and identified predictors using a Cox proportional hazard model. In total, 575 patients were included in the analysis; the majority were male. The overall mortality rate was 10% per year. Multivariate analysis suggested that being male (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 2.74; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.34-5.59), having a lower education (aHR: 2.17; 95%CI: 1.31-3.61), having heterosexual (aHR: 7.40; 95% CI: 2.61-21.00) or injecting drug use (aHR: 13.20; 95% CI: 3.17-55.00) as the likely transmission risk category, starting treatment with low CD4 cell counts (aHR: 3.18; 95% CI: 1.16-8.69), and not having a treatment supervisor (aHR: 4.02; 95% CI: 2.44-6.65) were independent predictors of mortality. The mortality was high, particularly in the first three months after initiating ART. These findings highlight the need to encourage HIV testing and early diagnosis and prompt treatment. Applying aspects of BMCs targeted HIV services model in more generalised services such as BGH may be beneficial. Providing adherence support as part of ART services is key to promoting adherence to ART.

Factors associated to referral of tuberculosis suspects by private practitioners to community health centres in Bali Province, Indonesia.

BACKGROUND: The contrast between the low proportion of tuberculosis (TB) suspects referred from private practitioners in Bali province and the high volume of TB suspects seeking care at private practices suggests problems with TB suspect referral from private practitioners to the public health sector. We aimed to identify key factors associated with the referral of TB suspects by private practitioners. METHODS: We conducted a case-control study conducted in Bali province, Indonesia. The cases were private practitioners who had referred at least one TB suspect to a community health centre between 1 January 2007 and the start of data collection, while the controls were private practitioners who had not referred a single TB suspect in the same time. RESULTS: The following factors were independently associated with referral of TB suspects by private practitioners: having received information about the directly observed treatment short-course (DOTS) strategy (OR 2.0; 95% CI 1.1-3.8), ever having been visited by a district TB program officer (OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.0-4.5), availability of TB suspect referral forms in the practice (OR 2.8; 95% CI 1.5-5.2), and less than 5 km distance between the private practice and the laboratory for smear examination (OR 2.2; 95% CI 1.2-4.0). CONCLUSIONS: Education and exposure of private practitioners to the TB program improves referral of TB suspects from private practitioners to the national TB program. We recommend that the TB program provides all private practitioners with information about the DOTS strategy and TB suspect referral forms, and organizes regular visits to private practitioners.