TB-Free Luzon Activity

The Challenge

Despite significant progress in the fight against tuberculosis (TB), the Philippines remains a high-TB-burden country. Ranking fourth among the eight high-burden countries, it contributes 7% of all TB cases worldwide.

The Philippines increased case notifications following the COVID-19 pandemic, but challenges exist to achieving national and international 90-90-90+ detection-treatment-cure goals by 2035. These include a substantial number of undiagnosed TB cases, low TB and drug-resistant TB treatment coverage, and limited access to TB programs, sub-optimal treatment success rates –especially for people with DR-TB and those receiving treatment in the private sector – with high rates (22%) of early loss to follow-up and many patients on treatment not evaluated (nearly 24%).

Furthermore, 42% of TB cases face catastrophic costs, the TB program relies heavily on donor support, and 60% of the program is unfunded.

Overview and Objectives

Building on the national award-winning track record of USAID’s TB Platforms for Sustainable TB Detection, Care, and Treatment Project, and URC’s long-standing in-country presence, the USAID TB-Free Luzon Activity team will support the national TB program and eight regions, working closely with the Department of Health and other GOP departments to empower local counterparts, spur local innovations and scale up TB screening, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.

TB-Free Luzon will use four main strategies:

• People-centered care: Promotes service integration by using the Philippines Department of Health (DOH) life-stage approach to address individual risk factors and strengthen primary health care.
• Development of individual and institutional capacity and empowerment: Builds on previous USAID TB Platforms Project self-reported capacity assessments to tailor interventions for the DOH and co-create strengthened primary health care referral mechanisms with health care provider networks.
• Participatory engagement with capacity building of civil society organizations, youth, and patient groups: Amplifies the voice of TB and marginalized people and reinforces community-led TB monitoring and evaluation through coordinating platforms for multi-sectoral engagement, participation, and accountability.
• Instilling a culture of continuous quality improvement (CQI): Supports data-driven decisions, site utilization analyses, and the adoption of innovation for TB programming and health system strengthening while creating replicable CQI models.