Westcare leads TB fight in Bali

WESTCARE Incorporated has signed an agreement with the Balinese Government for cooperation on tuberculosis prevention in Bali.

The signing of the memorandum of understanding signals the start of a six-year program to improve the control of TB on the island.

As part of that program Westcare has formed a consortium with the John Fawcett Foundation Indonesian arm Yayasan Kemanusiann Indonesia and some of Australia’s leading institutions, doctors and scientists with an interest in TB.

The consortium includes Royal Perth hospital, Royal Adelaide Hospital, The Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, The Australian TB and Chest Association and Curtin University of Technology.

The Australian consortium members will provide their time and expertise free of charge to train local laboratory technicians in microscopy and health care workers in community programs.

The Australian Red Cross has offered to cover the programs expenses and to fund the purchase of laboratory equipment for a special training facility to be set up within the existing national TB program facility and in the District Health Centres.

The aim of the program is to train Department of Health technicians in supporting an improved TB control and management program for Bali.

The goal is to greatly reduce the incidence of the disease and improve general health in the Balinese community.

Westcare CEO Richard Elsey said Westcare had more than 50 years’ experience in the prevention and cure of TB.

"We are taking an active stance against TB here in Bali," he said.

The World Health Organisation reports that in Indonesia TB is currently reported in 271 people per 10,000 and about 400 deaths occur each day from the disease.

Westcare started its life as a charity as the Tuberculosis and Chest Association of Western Australia.

With TB largely eradicated in most parts of Australia the association gradually evolved into Westcare.

These days it acts as an employer and provides accommodation to people with disabilities.

It employs about 150 disabled people, has five business units – Westcare Print, Westcare Central Safety, Westcare Box, Westcare Industrial Packaging and Westcare Foodpak – and a number of accommodation properties around Perth.

Despite its changed focus, its old TB focus accounts for about 50 per cent of the donations it receives with people giving to the charity because a member of their family had TB.

Westcare gives annual donations to tuberculosis research and is helping to fund research into drug resistant TB strains.

This is one of the biggest fears in underdeveloped areas such as Bali.

People present for treatment and then do not complete their treatment course.

This results in the development of drug-resistants strains of the disease.