Dengue is the fastest spreading vector-borne disease in the World. Dengue virus has 4 serotypes ( DENV1, DENV2, DENV3 and DENV4). First infection with one of the 4 serotype is usually non-severe, while second infection with one of the other serotypes may cause damage. Dengue has no treatment but the disease can be early managed. It is transmitted by day biting Aedes Aegypti and Aedes Albopictus mosquitoes. Dengue illness is categorized according to severity as Dengue without warning signs, Dengue with warning signs and Severe dengue.

Program/Project/Activity:

1. Integrated Vector Management Training ( IVM )

( pax: PHNs, RHMs, SI, BHWs, School Nurses )

1. Health Education class/orientations on Dengue Program

( Pax: Brgy. Officials, Purok Leaders, BHWs, Teachers

and other stakeholders )

1. Program Implementation Review ( PIR )

( Pax: Municipal and Provincial Sanitary Inspectors, and

NDP point person on Dengue Program )

1. Monitoring/supervision

COVID-19 has severely impacted the fight against TB around the world. In the province of Bohol, the National Tuberculosis Control Program recorded a 20% decrease in TB testing, a 35% reduction in TB notification and a 14% reduction in drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) notification in 2021 in comparison to 2020. When TB testing rates decline, this has devastating implications: the fewer people that are found, tested and treated, the more TB cases and deaths there will be, and the higher the risk of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) spreading worldwide.

COVID-19 sped up the implementation of changes and innovations that had already been under discussion. With the limited mobility of our health care workers as well as our TB patients during lockdown, the NTP began allowing patients to bring home one month’s equivalent of medicines. The nurses at the DR-TB clinics also do one home visit at least once per month with a patient to check on how they are doing, and to collect sputum specimens for laboratory follow-ups.”

Part of the challenge of TB is that it requires long and complex treatment. It takes six months of four antibiotics to cure TB. Drug-resistant forms of TB demand an even longer regimen, lasting between nine and 18 months of taking nausea-inducing medication every single day. Loss to follow-up – when patients do not complete their full treatment course – can mean that people are not fully cured, further drug resistance can develop, and TB can be spread.

Loss to follow-up is one of our major challenges. Prior to COVID-19, DR-TB patients would have needed to report to the facility every day to take their medicines.

The shift to home-based treatment had a big impact. Before COVID-19, 16% of our patients would be lost to follow-up before their sixth month on treatment, but in 2021, only 4% were lost to follow-up. Now, there has been a paradigm shift and medical staff realized that it is indeed possible to do home-based treatment for DR-TB patients, and that there is a significant improvement in patient adherence and patient treatment outcomes.

Other elements of the ACCESS TB project were also mobilized to better serve TB patients. In 2017, the Global Fund and PBSP had started an initiative to make services more patient-centered using specimen Transport Riders (STRiders) – motorcycle riders who would transport sputum specimens from health centers to laboratories where they would be tested using GeneXpert diagnostic equipment. When COVID-19 came, we expanded the task of our STRiders. So they are no longer only transporting specimens now, but they are also transporting medicines from the facility going to the patients’ homes. Even better, they are doing this for both TB and HIV programs.

The NTP Adaptive Plan is working and has helped TB facilities survive the subsequent waves of COVID-19. Every time an Enhanced Community Quarantine (lockdown) is implemented, expectedly we always see a decrease in testing and case notification, but the decrease right now is not as significant as last year. This means that indeed the mechanisms that we have put in place and the guidance we developed are helping to mitigate the effect of the pandemic.

Program Background

National AIDS STI Prevention and Control Program of the Department of Health was established in 1988 anchored on Republic Act 8504 which was later amended as RA 11166 otherwise known as the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act duly signed into law by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in December 20, 2018 which took effect on January 25, 2019.

Objectives:

• Reduce the transmission of HIV and STI among the key population as well as the general population, and mitigate its impact at the individual, family, and community level.

STI/HIV Prevention Programs:

• Capacity development
• Peer education and outreach
• Multi-sectoral coordination
• Empowerment of communities thru advocacy and IEC
• Community assemblies to reduce stigma and discrimination
• Availability of free voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing Services
• Condom Use Program (CUP) especially for entertainment establishments
• Augmentation of resources to LGU facilities providing STI services and Social Hygiene Clinics

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic infection caused by the blood fluke, Schistosoma Japonicum. Schistosoma eggs hatch, release miracidiae, and infect the intermediate snail host, Oncomelania hupensis quadrasi. Schistosomiasis is considered endemic in the municipalities of Talibon and Trinidad and thus the Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination Program remains an ongoing program in the Province of Bohol, aiming for a Schistosomiasis free province. 

Program/Project/Activity:

• Mass Drug Administration (MDA) to school children in the 2 endemic municipalities with a target of 85% administered with PZQ.
• Snail Mapping and Surveillance in the affected Barangays of Talibon and Trinidad to validate all existing transmission sites
• Field Investigation and Clearing in Schistosomiasis endemic Barangays of Talibon and Trinidad
• Conduct Pre-MDA advocacy activities and dissemination of IEC materials to 8 Barangays of Talibon and Trinidad
• Conduct Community Mass Drug Administration to 8 Barangays of Talibon and Trinidad

Our Recent Activities