ARMM reports lower TB incidence

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—Despite threats to the security of its workers and other problems, the Department of Health in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said it has managed to drastically reduce the incidence of tuberculosis in the region.

Regional Health Secretary Dr. Kadil Sinolinding said the department’s intensified campaign, especially in remote areas, drove down TB cases by 60 percent from a high of 4,275 cases in 2011.

Sinolinding said had it not been for security problems, more patients would have been cured of the disease, which is one of the country’s top six causes of deaths. A number of health workers in the ARMM were either abducted or killed in their places of assignment in recent years.

“Our health providers (now) consider their own safety in the campaign versus TB in far-flung and conflict affected communities in the region,” he said.

Aside from security concerns, Sinolinding said health workers are also  confronted by another challenge: the emergence of a new drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis, called MDR, or multi-drug resistant TB.

He said what the regional health department does these days is to train volunteers, especially in the remote areas of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi that regular health workers cannot reach.

“We can control the spread of this infectious disease,” Sinolinding said.

Dr. Sadaila Raki-in, regional TB medical coordinator, said they have been educating patients on the need to take their medicines regularly otherwise their disease would get worse.

Raki-in said patients need not worry about the cost because the medicines were given free by the government with the help of local and international donors, and the direct involvement of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases.

“So its just a matter of compliance to the regimen,” she said.