Pudtol, Apayao - The Apayao Provincial Health Office (PHO) conducted a Tuberculosis (TB) Caravan in Swan, Pudtol, Apayao on March 8, 2024 in its continuous bid to eradicate the disease in communities of the province.
This is known as the TB Health Plus Caravan organized in partnership with the Department of Health - Cordillera Administrative Region (DOH-CAR), with funding support from the Provincial Government and Philippine Business for Social Progress.
Said effort forms a crucial part of the nationwide endeavour to identify all forms of TB and ultimately eradicate the disease.
In Apayao, the Case Notification Rate (CNR) stood at 220% in 2021 and rose to 272% in 2022, with a Tuberculosis Treatment Success Rate (TSR) exceeding 90% in both years. This year's CNR has surged to 352%, while the TSR remains at 91%.
Active case-finding (ACF) entails systematic screening for active TB, typically conducted outside of health facilities. It targets individuals who may not typically visit health centers during regular TB consultation days, thereby intensifying the search for TB cases within the community.
The primary objectives of ACF are to conduct targeted case-finding and promptly initiate treatment to render patients non-infectious. Moreover, it seeks to raise public awareness about TB and garner community support for the program's overarching objective of "Hanapin, Gamutin, Pagalingin" (Find, Treat, Heal). The primary aim is to achieve a Case Detection rate 10% higher than the previous year's achievement and maintain a Treatment Success Rate of 90% or above.
This strategy is aligned with the DOH National Tuberculosis Control Program Manual of Operations (NTP MOP, 2014), which advocates for active case finding to bolster TB detection. This approach involves community outreach efforts to identify presumptive TB cases among vulnerable and high-risk groups who may not proactively seek health facility consultation.
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