PH among top nations with TB, says WHO
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines is among the four countries that account for 93 percent of the tuberculosis cases and deaths in the Western Pacific region, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Health Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag
“The Philippines, Cambodia, China and Vietnam account for 93 percent of the estimated regional TB burden of 1.6 million cases and 110,000 deaths each year. These four countries are among the 22 high-burden countries worldwide,” said the WHO in a statement.
The Department of Health (DOH) earlier said that despite the government’s massive campaign against the disease, 63 Filipinos die every day from tuberculosis or TB.
In a press briefing last week, Health Assistant Secretary Dr. Eric Tayag said the incidence of TB in the country had declined in the last 21 years, but many patients still died daily due to failure to seek medical treatment.
The latest DOH data showed that 712 Filipinos are afflicted with TB every day, but only 632 seek treatment.
And of the 632, Tayag noted, only 577 are able to complete the entire six-month treatment.
TB is an infectious bacterial disease that commonly affects the lungs. It is transmitted from person to person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the active respiratory disease.
Tayag said many Filipinos do not seek medical treatment because they are unaware they have the disease. And many others refuse to seek medical help due to the stigma associated with TB.
“Stigma from TB still exists because we have yet to address the myths about the disease. There are people who are unaware that TB can be easily treated,” he said.
The WHO meanwhile reiterated its call for governments, policymakers, health care providers and civil society organizations to prioritize interventions to urgently find, treat and cure the millions of people who remain undiagnosed with the disease.
The WHO said that of the estimated nine million people a year who develop TB, some 30 percent or three million, are “missed,” meaning they are not found, treated or reported to national health authorities. In the Western Pacific, an estimated one in five TB cases is missed.
“We must ensure that we can identify every single case of TB, as many individuals with TB remain undiagnosed and untreated,” said Dr. Shin Young-soo, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, in a statement.
Apart from the high number of missed TB cases, another challenge in the region is the threat of drug-resistant TB, with an estimated 75,000 multi drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) patients added annually and increasing numbers of patients with extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB.
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