Universitas Indonesia (UI) is heading an international research effort on preventing tuberculosis (TB) among people who live in the same household as confirmed TB patients, ANTARA News Megapolitan reported on Monday. The study, called Prevention of Household Tuberculosis with Optimal Nutrition (PHOTON), was formally launched by Indonesia's Ministry of Health. The launch took place at UI's Depok campus, where university officials framed the project as a step toward building stronger scientific evidence for TB prevention strategies both in Indonesia and globally.
Why it matters
Indonesia currently carries the world's second-highest TB burden, recording more than one million new cases each year, according to ANTARA News Megapolitan. Against that backdrop, a trial of this size is significant: PHOTON is a large-scale clinical trial involving 78,400 participants across Indonesia and Tanzania, with more than 42,000 of them in Indonesia.
Hamdi Muluk, UI's Vice Rector for Research, Innovation, Students and Alumni, described the project as the first study of its kind at this scale. He said the university takes pride in contributing solid evidence through a scientific approach to support policymaking. According to ANTARA News Megapolitan, he also stressed that universities have a strategic role in producing research capable of addressing complex health problems.
The trial's premise is that nutritional status may influence TB risk, and that better evidence on that link is needed. Rina Agustina, Director of UI's Center for Global Resilience in Health and Nutrition (C-GRHEN) and principal investigator for PHOTON in Indonesia, said nutritional interventions could serve as a complementary strategy for protecting vulnerable groups and for accelerating progress toward TB elimination.
How the trial is structured
UI, through C-GRHEN, will lead the Indonesian portion of the research. Its partners include the Summit Institute for Development (SID), Siklus Indonesia and the University of Oxford. Work in Tanzania is being led by the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR). The study is funded by the Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust and Novo Nordisk Foundation, ANTARA News Megapolitan reports.
Beyond its scale, Rina said the trial matters because it demonstrates Indonesia's active role in global scientific leadership. She said the country is not merely a research site but a participant in shaping the scientific agenda — from formulating the research questions and drafting the protocol to designing and running the study alongside international and national partners.
The launch was also presented as a way to strengthen cooperation between government, academic institutions, international research partners and other health stakeholders in tackling a disease that remains a public health problem in Indonesia.
What to watch
With the study now formally launched, attention turns to the rollout of the Indonesian arm of the trial across its more than 42,000 participants, and to whether its findings eventually inform national and global TB prevention policy.
