BY: RACHELLE M. NESSIA
CEBU CITY, March 26 (PIA) --- Foreign investments of up to P1 billion per year for the next three years will pour in to the Philippines to boost the government’s anti-tuberculosis campaign.
This after two international funding organizations, The Global Fund and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), granted funds for the implementation of projects to support the goals of the National National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) in the Philippines.
The projects will be implemented through the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), a corporate-led, non-profit social development foundation in the Philippines.
PBSP has received a grant of USD$70M from The Global Fund and USD$28 million from USAID for said projects, according to PBSP health director Eric Camacho during yesterday’s commemoration of World TB Day 2014 in at Cebu Parklane International Hotel, Cebu City.
Camacho said that under USAID’s Innovations and Multisectoral Partnerships to Achieve Control of Tuberculosis (IMPACT) project, PBSP will extend support to anti-TB programs of local government units (LGUs) by deploying technical services in areas of policy like crafting ordinances or deploy people to help in the service delivery of the Directly-Observed Treatment Shortcourse (DOTS).
DOTS is a control strategy recommended by the World Health Organization and adopted by the Department of Health (DOH) in rural health units and hospitals as a cost-effective method to stop the spread of TB in the communities.
PBSP can also help deploy additional medical personnel in areas that lack manpower in the delivery of DOTS services.
“If you ask for it, we might be able to help you out,” Camacho told representatives of local government units.
PBSP is also working with Philhealth to push forward the development of packages for reimbursement.
On the other hand, under The Global Fund’s grant, PBSP will purchase from abroad medicines for patients who suffer from multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB.
“For MDR cases, not all medicines are available in the Philippines. So we will give it for free through The Global Funds. We will buy it abroad and bring it here,” said Camacho.
Camacho said treatment for regular TB cases will take up to six months, while those diagnosed as MDR cases will take between 18 to 21 months.
PBSP will also step up the Registered Nurses for Health Enhancement and Local Service Project (RN Heals) of DOH by providing additional nurses in areas with low case detection and low cure rate areas.
RN Heals program trains and deploys registered nurses to poor rural communities in the country.
Camacho urged LGUs with low performance in their anti-TB program or those in need of additional health workers to coordinate with DOH Region 7 “so we will know what arrangement we can do to give additional personnel.”
“We’re doing this to increase the TB detection rate so that those affected will be treated and to avoid the spread of the disease to other constituents,” he added.
DOH-7 has surpassed their target for cure rate of TB cases in the region, achieving 89% success rate vis-à-vis the target of 85%.
On a global scale, three million of the estimated nine million people who develop TB are “missed” or not detected, treated, and reported to health authorities.
This year’s World TB Day observation aims to gather public support to reach the three million to get them the treatment they need and stop the spread of TB. (RMN/PIA Cebu)