Pasay City, Philtranco ink pact to boost TB info drive among bus-riding public
In an unprecedented step, a local government and a private bus company signed an accord to help end tuberculosis (TB), the 8th leading cause of death in the country, killing 27 persons every day, and affecting an estimated 410,000 Filipinos mostly in the economically productive age group. In a memorandum of agreement signed August 30, 2016, Pasay City government officials and executives of Philtranco Enterprise Service, Inc. gave their nod to disseminating correct TB messages among the bus line’s passengers and employees.
The partnership establishes the role of Pasay City, a USAID project site, in providing information to bus drivers, conductors, and office employees on TB prevention, treatment, and control; and facilitating, through the City Health Office, diagnosis of company employees with TB symptoms, and providing treatment as needed. Meanwhile, Philtranco and its sister companies will show TB videos on top of their usual movie fare, and distribute print materials in terminal premises and on board bus units that ply the routes to 25 provinces across the country. Developed by the Department of Health and USAID, the TB information materials are expected to reach an estimated 3,000 bus passengers and 1,000 people who pass the terminal daily, and the 1,500 employees of Philtranco and its sister companies.
Forged through USAID’s Innovations and Multisectoral Partnerships to Achieve Control of Tuberculosis (IMPACT) project with Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the collaboration between Pasay City and Philtranco supports the End TB Strategy, which calls for effective government stewardship and participation of the private sector and communities. Signatories to the MOA were Pasay City Mayor Antonio Calixto and Philtranco/JAM President Dennise Trajano. On hand to witness the signing were Dr. Ariel Valencia, DOH National Capital Regional Office Director; Rafael Lopa, PBSP Executive Director; Bryn Sakagawa, Deputy Director of USAID Office of Health; and Dr. Anna Marie Celina Garfin, Department of Health National TB Control Program Manager.
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