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USAID pours in P12-M for Central Visayas TB elimination campaign

By John Rey Saavedra

April 30, 2021, 4:32 pm

<p><strong>TB ELIMINATION.</strong> Department of Health Central Visayas (DOH-7) and the Cebu City Health Department will provide PHP26.5 million for the <em>Pangitaa ang TB</em> (Find TB) campaign. DOH-7, Cebu and United States Agency for International Development also launched online on Friday (April 30, 2021) a tuberculosis elimination program. <em>(Photo courtesy of DOH-7)</em></p>

TB ELIMINATION. Department of Health Central Visayas (DOH-7) and the Cebu City Health Department will provide PHP26.5 million for the Pangitaa ang TB (Find TB) campaign. DOH-7, Cebu and United States Agency for International Development also launched online on Friday (April 30, 2021) a tuberculosis elimination program. (Photo courtesy of DOH-7)

CEBU CITY – The Cebu City government and the Department of Health in Central Visayas ((DOH-7) have partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to intensify the management and control of tuberculosis (TB).

Michelle Lang-Alli, head of USAID’s Office of Health, said they pledged over PHP12 million to support the TB control program in Central Visayas.

Cebu City Hall, DOH-7, and USAID on Friday cited in a joint statement the need to strengthen the campaign against TB as equally infectious with other diseases even as the region deals with coronavirus disease 2109 (Covid-19).

Mayor Edgardo Labella signed the agreement with DOH-7 for the Citywide TB Elimination Campaign (CiTEC), which emphasizes how a local TB care program can be a portal to Universal Health Care (UHC).

“USAID, through our ProtectHealth and TB Innovations and Health Systems Strengthening Project, supports this integrated demonstration of UHC in action. This is a very concrete example of a local government, championing the rights of its citizens to good health, through a whole-of-system approach. We, at USAID, are with you, Central Visayas and Cebu City, every step of the way,” Alli said.

The systemic TB control program in Cebu City will serve as a model for UHC implementation.

From screening to treatment, Cebuanos with TB have rights to good health as mandated by Republic Act 11223 or the UHC Act of 2019, the statement stressed.

“To get other essential health programs back on track, we will start with tuberculosis control to ensure that we are able to address TB as a public health priority,” Labella said during the CiTEC virtual launch.

Local programs

DOH-7’s Central Visayas Center for Health Development and the Cebu City Health Department also committed to jointly provide resources amounting to PHP26.5 million for the campaign Pangitaa ang TB (Find TB).

The agencies will conduct TB screening activities to find and start on treatment over 900 persons with TB from May to September 2021.

DOH-7 Jaime Bernadas said critical public health programs, among them the TB elimination campaign, ”have taken a backseat” as the country struggles to manage the public health crisis brought by the Covid-19.

”The global tuberculosis report (in) 2020, showed that the Philippines is fourth worldwide among countries with high TB cases. Cebu City has the estimated 8,541 TB cases in 2019,” he said.

Free X-ray services

In Barangay Mambaling, one of the city's most populous communities, free chest X-rays will be offered to residents aged 15 and older.

Using Artificial Intelligence, USAID’s local medical teams in mobile chest X-ray vans will be able to determine if clients are presumptive of TB in as fast as five minutes.

In Barangay Pasil, community health workers and parent leaders of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) will practice social distancing measures as they visit households, screen residents who may present symptoms and risk factors of TB, and refer them to primary care providers for free treatment.

Patients and their companions at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center will also be screened for TB. They will be offered free chest X-ray services as part of the hospital’s cough surveillance initiative.

DOH-7’s partnership with the University of Cebu will then see the deployment of medical students as treatment partners to help those with TB complete their treatment.

“These are systemic efforts to continue TB services amid the Covid-19 pandemic,” Bernadas said during the online launch.

In 2020, DOH noted a 35 percent decrease in the number of TB cases reported to the agency nationwide.

In Central Visayas, new and relapse TB cases dropped from 22,901 in 2019 to 15,874 in 2020.

“Because of the community quarantine, many people were unable to go to health facilities for their checkup or to take anti-TB medicines,” Dr. Sharon Laurel, Regional Medical Coordinator for the National TB Control Program, said.

A local initiative also features the adoption of “Oplan TB-free Kami!” as part of the national communication campaign called #TBFreePH. (PNA)

 

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