THE Philippine government faces major challenges in its health sector which experts say impede its ability to provide quality, accessible, and equitable healthcare to the 115 million population.
These challenges include global health crises and natural disasters, weak health systems performance, and gaps in the continuum of care.
Underserved populations continue to suffer from a high prevalence of tuberculosis, a curable disease — including multidrug-resistant TB; a concentrated HIV epidemic; rising infectious disease outbreaks – including measles, dengue, and zoonotic diseases; high unmet need for family planning; high teenage pregnancy rates; and preventable maternal and newborn deaths.
The government previously launched a 20-year TB elimination strategy which focused on three key areas: integrated patient-centered TB care and prevention, bold policies and supportive systems as well as intensified research and innovation.
Instance, the National TB Program is the government’s commitment to address the TB problem — which has about one million who have active tuberculosis – and its main strategy is to use the Directly-Observed Treatment Short-course to detect and cure TB patients.
Health authorities say significant progress has been recorded since the Philippines, which ranks fourth highest in TB incidence globally, adopted the DOTS strategy in 1996.
In 2021, the estimated TB incidence in the Philippines was 741,000; an estimated 61,000 people died from the infectious disease that year, and the Philippines reported 321,564 TB case notifications.
It is heartening the Philippine government is on a high gear addressing health issues and concerns through programs and initiatives like the Philippine National AIDS Council for HIV/AIDS cases and the National Tobacco Control Program for tobacco-related diseases.
The Philippine strategy for TB elimination, embodied in the Updated Philippine Strategic TB Elimination Plan 2020-2023, aims to achieve a 15 percent reduction in mortality and a 12 percent reduction in incidence, using the cascade of care framework and describing major strategies in screening, testing and diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
Out-of-pocket expenditure still accounts for a hefty proportion of health spending, putting Filipino families at risk for impoverishment when accessing health services.
Cross-cutting issues like gender inequality and the impact of climate change also affect people’s access to quality healthcare.
It is animating the US Agency for International Development is helping address these by working with the Philippine government to strengthen health systems, promote positive social norms and behaviors, and improve the quality of primary health care.
We understand USAID also supports national and local governments in implementing the Universal Health Care Law by enhancing health leadership and governance, training healthcare workers, strengthening public financial management, improving supply chain management, refining health information systems, and expanding coverage of quality health services.
