The UPM College of Public Health (CPH) in collaboration with the British Embassy Manila (BEM) conducted a webinar entitled “Double Trouble: Fighting (Hyper)Endemic Tuberculosis (TB) Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic” last November 5, 2020. Hosted by the Department of Medical Microbiology, the webinar gathered a panel of interdisciplinary experts to discuss the challenges and recommendations in the management and control of TB and multidrug resistant TB (MDR-TB) in the time of COVID-19.
Dr. Rajendra-Prasad Yadav, Medical Officer for the Global Tuberculosis Programme of the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region, presented the innovative strategies aiming to restore TB-related services that inevitably had been halted during community quarantines and lockdowns. These include digital solutions through online consultations, web/mobile applications and artificial intelligence; emphasis on multisectoral approaches to mobilize financial resources, human resources and medicine supply; and public engagement to #BounceBack campaigns to increase patient mobility, population screening and testing.
Dr. Anna Marie Celina Garfin, Program Manager of the National Tuberculosis Control Program (NTP) at the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau (DPCB) of the Department of Health, detailed the significant impact of the pandemic on local TB elimination efforts related to active screening, testing, diagnosing, treating and preventing the disease in the country. She also highlighted the approved guidelines of the forthcoming NTP Adaptive Plan (NAP) which will ensure observance of minimum public health standards to mitigate COVID-19 among health facilities and health professionals delivering TB-related services.
Dr. Regina Berba, Infectious Diseases Specialist and Head of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Responsive Integrated Multidisciplinary Enhanced (PRIME) TB DOTS, expounded on the diagnostic and management dilemmas faced by clinicians who encounter patients manifesting similar symptoms of TB and COVID-19. She likewise described the necessary structural and policy changes in PGH as it was designated a COVID-19 Referral Center in April 2020.
Serving as reactors, pulmonologist and Professor of Physiology Dr. Manuel Jorge II of the UP College of Medicine emphasized the need to develop innovative approaches to control TB during the pandemic era, to integrate the strategies to mitigate TB and COVID-19, and to intensify efforts to eliminate TB and COVID-19. Chair of MDR-TB Concilium and Provincial Medical Coordinator of NTP in Eastern Samar Dr. Rodel Delgado echoed the pseudo decrease in case detection rate at the region due to imposed mobility restrictions.
Attended by more than 400 local and international participants, this event was the third part of the webinar series Public Health in the Time of COVID-19 and the New Normal organized by UP CPH and BEM.
Fresthel Monica Climacosa | Published in Healthscape Special COVID-19 Issue No. 21 (December 2020)
