A DOH spokesperson explained that illnesses such as TB are airborne and spread much faster in populated areas.
“It doesn’t choose between the rich and the poor; it affects all of us… The good news is that there is medicine for TB. We can detect it. There is medicine, and it works. The challenging part is that the medication would have to last from as short as 4 months to as long as 9 months, depending on the patient,” he said.
The statement comes after the DOH signed a partnership with the U.S. Department of State to strengthen TB detection and treatment in the Philippines.
The partnership included the provision of enough TB medicine for 230,000 patients, as well as 12 ultraportable X-ray machines.
It was noted that the Philippines also received an estimated USD$120 million from the Global Fund in treating TB, HIV, and Malaria.
“We will follow the prevalence, or what we call the disease burden [in the distribution of resources]… Whichever area has the highest cases of tuberculosis and whichever has the highest population would have the highest cases of infection,” he said.
The DOH has recorded more than 100,000 tuberculosis (TB) cases in Metro Manila.
The health department has pushed for early screening to avoid the spread of active TB.
