The Department of Health (DOH) revealed today that the current year 2010 is the halfway mark of the 2006-2015 Global Plan to stop Tuberculosis, or TB. This year’s theme, “On the Move Against TB, Innovate to Accelerate Action”, speaks of the need for new ways to make anti-TB services even more accessible and efficient.The Philippines has itself made great strides in combating TB. From a high mortality rate of 38.2 deaths per 100,000 population in 1990, the Philippine Health Statistics reported a lower rate of 31/100,000.
While the Philippines is still included in the World Health Organization (WHO) watchlist of 22 high-burden countries, it has lowered its ranking in TB prevalence from 7th to 9th. TB also remains the 6th leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the country, but experts have observed a decreasing trend.
The country has also made notable improvements in TB case detection, reflected by the increase over the past five years in the number of all TB cases identified, from 134,000 to 150,000 per year. Almost half a million smear positive cases were started on treatment and 90% have been successfully treated.
In pursuit of further success, the National TB Program (NTP) formulated the Philippine Plan of Action to Control TB 2010-2015 (PhilPACT) with the support of the WHO and the United States Assistance for International Development (USAID) through the TB-LINC and Health Policy Development Projects.
Administrative orders have also been formulated and implemented for the provision of services in selected sites for multi-drug resistant TB (MDRTB) patients, those with TB and HIV, prisoners/inmates with TB and for the nationwide expansion of TB services for children.
“We must scale up efforts and continue to seek new and innovative ways to stop TB if we are to successfully attain targets under the Millennium Development Goals”, Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral declared. Secretary Cabral also noted that, in collaboration with the Philhealth, more than 500 TB-DOTS facilities (public and private) have been certified and accredited in 2009. Patients can access the TB Outpatient Benefit Package of Philhealth.
Services in the urban poor areas have also been enhanced through the involvement of non-government organizations in Tondo, Manila and Payatas, Quezon City through the support and collaboration of the NTP, the Research Institute for Tuberculosis and the Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Foundation.
Secretary Cabral likewise stressed the importance of private sector involvement through the Philippine Coalition against Tuberculosis (PhilCAT). The private sector contributed nearly 10,000 cases detected under the Public-Private Mix DOTS (PPMD) strategy.
In all these initiatives, the DOH has been the primary provider of anti-TB drugs for all cases detected under the Program.
No comments:
Post a Comment