Deadly Intersection: TB and Smoking in Indonesia

TB patients who smoke are four times more likely to die from the disease

By: Tara Singh Bam

Two of the world’s major scourges – smoking and tuberculosis – have combined to give Indonesia the world’s second highest TB burden, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Global TB Report 2023, with India being home to the largest such burden. In 2022, 1.06 million in Indonesia fell ill with TB, with an estimated 303,000 inc…