Jurnal Penelitian Kesehatan Suara Forikes
Vol 17, No 4 (2026): April 2026

Physician Distribution Outweighs Climate Variability in Shaping Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patterns

Laura Dwi Pratiwi (Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Sriwijaya, Palembang
lauradwipratiwi@fkm.ui.ac.id (correspondence))

Yoerdy Agusmal Saputra (Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Sriwijaya, Palembang)
Dwi Septiawati (Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Sriwijaya, Palembang)
Yustini Ardillah (Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Sriwijaya, Palembang)



Article Info

Publish Date
19 Apr 2026

Abstract

Pulmonary tuberculosis remains a public health burden in endemic urban areas, exacerbated by heterogeneous climate variability and limited health service capacity. This study aimed to describe the temporal patterns of climate variability and the spatial patterns of physician distribution and their relationship to tuberculosis cases in Palembang. Using a spatial-temporal ecological design, we analyzed monthly time series of tuberculosis cases and summarized monthly climate data from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency of Indonesia, then mapped the cases and availability of general practitioners and pulmonologits in 18 subdistricts using geographic information system to explore distribution patterns and potential detection bias. The results showed that at the aggregate level, there was no consistent linear relationship between climate fluctuations and variations in pulmonary tuberculosis cases; instead, spatial mapping revealed heterogeneity in cases correlated with medical personnel availability, areas with higher health worker density reported higher cases (indicating increased detection), while resource-limited areas risked underreporting and delayed diagnosis. These findings underscore the need for equitable primary care services, strengthened active case finding, and integration of service indicators into spatial surveillance to improve programmatic detection and response. Keywords: climate variability; physician availability; pulmonary tuberculosis; spatial-temporal patterns

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Journal Info

Abbrev

sf

Publisher

Subject

Health Professions Medicine & Pharmacology Nursing Public Health

Description

Journal of Health Research "Forikes Voice" is a medium for the publication of articles on research and review of the literature. We accept articles in the areas of health such as public health, medicine, nursing, midwifery, nutrition, pharmaceutical, environmental health, health technology, clinical ...