Committees
COMMUNITY-BASED TUBERCULOSIS CONTROL IN CHILDREN
A community-based public-private partnership model for tuberculosis control program for children working with local government units and using national guidelines set by the Department of Health. Tuberculosis ranks among the top five causes of mortality in the Philippines and children have a 25-50% risk of developing active TB disease after exposure. PAPA has also produced field guides based on the DOH National TB Program Manual of Operations for use by frontline health care workers including doctors, nurses, and midwives, as well as field guides for treatment partners and community advocates including school teachers, day care workers and lay people. At present, there is an ongoing study by PAPA through the PEER Health project about the association of secondhand smoke exposure and TB disease and infection.
Since 2000, the Philippine Ambulatory Pediatric Association (PAPA) has been involved in working with the Department of Health (DOH) and other non-government agencies on its advocacy addressing childhood tuberculosis in the Philippines.
With a grant from Potts Foundation in the US, PAPA, with the assistance of the DOH, initiated the pilot training and implementation of a childhood TB protocol in Santa Rosa City, Laguna and Mabalacat City, Pampanga. It consisted of LGU engagement, training on tuberculin skin testing and case detection of TB in children and monitoring using the National TB Program guidelines.
The initial activity started off with a Community Wide TB Rally, an information awareness activity consisting of the ff: 1) A community wide parade 2) Trainings of health care workers on case detection and treatment. The highlight of the Community Based TB Rally was the public education on TB in children particularly dispelling the myths and stigma associated with the disease as well as the fear of Tuberculin skin testing in children.
PAPA has worked with several organizations both national and international. These include engagements with IMPACT, USAID, and the Alliance for Control of TB in Washington DC. Beyond service delivery, PAPA has conducted researches on Prevalence Studies of TB in Children with the International Vaccine Institute, Quantiferon TB in children with the University of Washington and received a 3-year research grant with PEER Health of the National Academy of Science, USA linking exposures to second hand smoke with the clinical outcome of TB in children.
PAPA has also produced field guides based on the DOH National TB Program Manual of Operations for use by frontline health care workers including doctors, nurses, and midwives, as well as field guides for treatment partners and community advocates including school teachers, day care workers and lay people. Dr. Benjamin P. Sablan, Jr., PAPA Chairman of the TB Control in Children was nominated as one of the Board of Directors of the Philippine Coalition Against TB for the year 2018 – 2020.