PASIG CITY, August 5 (PIA) – The USAID, through its TB Platforms for Sustainable Detection, Care and Treatment, provides continuous technical assistance to the Department of Health’s National Tuberculosis Conttrol Program amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Led by its Chief of Party Dr. Marianne Calnan, the project team collaborates with the Center for Health Development (CHD) in the top three regions highly-burdened of tuberculosis - National Capital Region (NCR), Regions 3, 4-A and in Marawi City.
In NCR, USAID’s TB Platforms works with the 17 local government units (LGUs( to ensure continuous provision of TB services amid the pandemic.
Through the project, several online forums and webinar sessions have been conducted since the start of the community quarantine. These online mentoring sessions highlighted infection prevention and control guidelines for TB and COVID-19 to protect healthcare workers in hospitals and barangay health centers from both TB and COVID-19.
USAID’s TB Platforms Field and Operations Manager for NCR Dr. Hansel Ybanez along with the project’s Patient-Centered Care Specialist Dr. Christian Villacorte led the mentoring sessions which also included open discussions on how to improve the distribution and house-to-house delivery of medicines for enlisted TB patients, remote monitoring of patients’ treatment adherence and provision of technical support to the TB program nurse coordinators, medical technologists and administrative support staff who are being called to serve as frontliners for both TB and COVID-19. 
The project team also met with the city health offices and discussed moving forward activities which will help the LGU strengthen its TB response amid the pandemic. TB healthcare workers who were trained for community screening and contact tracing using the USAID’s TB Platforms COME ALIVE strategy (Communicate and Mentor Effectively using Ask, Listen, Inform, Verify and Engage approach) have been supporting the LGUs local response for both TB and COVID-19 in the midst of this challenging times.
Meanwhile, USAID’s TB Platforms Social and Behavior Change Communications Specialist Diwata de Castro-Paredes is collaborating with the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) as well as local AM and FM radios, health programs on television and social media influencers in sharing inspiring stories about the plight of healthcare workers amid the pandemic.
As the country celebrates National Lung Month this August, PIA will provide asssitance in producing and disseminating a-day-in-the-life stories of healthcare workers and interesting anecdotes on how their dedication supported TB patients’ adherence and completion of TB treatment. The project will also be launching its celebrity ambassador who will promote TB education and help reduce the stigma of the disease using multi-media platforms. (USAID/PIA-NCR)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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