BY: RIZALIE A. CALIBO
SIQUIJOR, May 15 (PIA) — The Department of Health (DOH-7) has seen the need to to boost the anti-Tuberculosis drive in Siquijor province.
This was disclosed by DOH -7 regional TB program coordinator Jocelyn Tabotabo during the recently conducted one-day orientation and advocacy activity for the establishment of a Multi-sectoral Alliance for TB in the province.
DOH-7 has earlier felt the need for a more unified and concerted effort and guided by the Comprehensive and Unified Policy (CUP) for TB control here.
Tabotabo cited the number of unreported TB cases that have attributed to its prevalence.
Tuberculosis, the DOH noted, has been a major cause of illness and death in the country and yet TB control efforts have historically been fragmented and uncoordinated.
The DOH’s National TB Control Program has made significant advances in improving the quality and extent of its control efforts but the private sector and even other government agencies have not been fully integrated into the over-all TB Control Framework, according to Provincial Health Officer Redempta Cortes.
“Health authorities alone cannot fight TB,” Tabobo said as she urged the public's cooperation with the provincial government to take the lead in the activities.
Meanwhile, a recent study of state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) and DOH revealed that the leading cause of high TB cases in urban poor communities is the patient's delayed visit to the doctor.
Titled "Barriers of Early TB Diagnosis among the Poor in Highly Urbanized Areas in the Philippines", the study noted that although there is a significant drop of TB prevalence over the last decade, TB remains the fourth leading cause of mortality among Filipinos.
The 2007 Philippine National Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey revealed that there are approximately three TB cases in every 1,000 Filipinos. Moreover, the DOH confirmed that there is a prevalence of the multidrug resistance TB in the country, a fatal form.
"Higher risk of tuberculosis can be attributed to delayed diagnosis," Krishna Reyes, study co-author and PIDS research consultant, said in a press release. (RAC/PIA7-Siquijor w/ PIDS report)