USAID Helps Put up ARMM’s First Satellite Treatment Center for Drug-Resistant TB
The satellite treatment center in Sulu is equipped with a GeneXpert machine that detects TB in two hours, instead of weeks (Photo: JAhmad/PBSP)
A reported 8,500 people in the Philippines have multidrug-resistant TB (WHO 2014 Global TB Report). Having one of the highest number of TB cases in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the Sulu communities risk contracting drug-resistant tuberculosis with patients who were not cured, who had recurrence of TB, or who returned after discontinuing treatment. TB patients in Sulu are burdened by expensive treatment and transportation costs, as well as income loss. The nearest Programmatic Management of Drug-Resistant TB (PMDT) facility is located in Zamboanga City, about 147 km north of Sulu. These factors together with the long (1824 months) and complex management of drug-resistant TB, could push patients to stop treatment, which may lead to further drug resistance, disability, and eventually death, while infecting other people before they die.
To address these challenges, USAID through Innovations and Multisectoral Partnerships to Achieve Control of Tuberculosis (IMPACT) Project together with Global Fund for TB (GF-TB) assisted the Department of Health ARMM to establish the first satellite treatment center (STC) in the region. USAID’s IMPACT Project, in coordination with GF-TB, assessed the needs and capacity of the province, and advocated for putting up an STC. The Project helped orient the municipal health officers and nurses on drug-resistant TB and assisted in strengthening referral and case holding. USAID’s IMPACT Project also helped train medical technologists in sputum collection, storage, packing, and transportation. The STC opened in December 2014 and tested 11 probable drug resistant TB cases. The STC in Sulu expands access to PMDT service in the province.