Jakarta, April 7 -- Indonesia is stepping up its efforts to eliminate tuberculosis (TB) through free health screening programs and innovation, Deputy Health Minister Benjamin Paulus Octavianus stated here on Tuesday.

With more than one million people falling ill with the disease every year, Indonesia has the second-highest TB burden in the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Therefore, the government is encouraging rapid action through massive early detection, including the free screening program, which targets reaching 130 million people by 2026.

Hope for TB elimination also relies on innovation, with more than 100 diagnostic tools, 29 TB drugs, and 18 vaccine candidates currently under development.

"Tuberculosis...