132 Filipinos die daily of TB - WHO

At least 132 Filipinos die daily due to tuberculosis and the figure is projected to rise further as incidence of a more deadly type of the infection was reported to be spreading fast in the country.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned yesterday that drug-resistant TB will continue to spread at an alarming rate in the Western Pacific Region, including the Philippines, unless drastic measures are taken immediately.

WHO Western Pacific Regional director Dr. Shigeru Omi said the rising level of tuberculosis is "simply unacceptable" considering that 30 percent of global TB is in the region.

"Unless drastic measures are taken now with greater political commitment, tuberculosis will continue to spread and multi-drug resistant TB will thrive," he said.

Omi added that although the number of TB/HIV co-infection is still low in the region, it is expected to rise over the next few years if no significant action is taken.

According to Omi, a "STOP TB" initiative to push TB control further on the political agenda was launched by the WHO in 1998 but only limited progress was made in controlling the spread of the disease in the Pacific rim.

Latest WHO records showed that in the Philippines about 132 Filipinos die daily due to TB or nearly double the number of TB deaths in 1993 despite government efforts to contain the disease.

It was said that mortality and incidence of TB in the Western Pacific Region, particularly in the Philippines, are continuously rising. In 1998 alone, an estimated 355,000 people in the region died from tuberculosis, including 48,000 in the Philippines.

The WHO said the Philippines is number one among countries in the Western Pacific in terms of TB prevalence rate. It is also among the 22 countries which account for 80 percent of the world's total TB cases.

Philippine health officials admitted that despite efforts to control TB, the illness remains a major health problem that afflicts an estimated 600,000 Filipinos.

The WHO has attributed the failed effort to control the spread of TB infection in the Philippines to poor implementation of the Directly Observed Treatment on Short Course Chemotherapy (DOTS) strategy due to lack of drugs.

To address the problem, the WHO is again resorting to the project "STOP TB," which aims to reduce TB prevalence in the region by half in ten years' time.

In line with the program, TB experts and government officials will meet beginning today until Feb. 24 to review and finalize the strategic plan for the special project.