Manila, Nov 13 (IANS) The Philippines has been intensifying its fight against tuberculosis (TB) with an ambitious goal to screen 12 million Filipinos nationwide by 2026, the country’s Department of Health (DOH) said on Thursday.

To expand and accelerate TB services, the agency said on social media that it has proposed a 4.2-billion-peso (about $71 million) budget for 2026, nearly double the 2.6 billion pesos ($44 million) earmarked in 2025.

“In the Philippines, we are already using ultra-portable, AI-powered chest X-rays and WHO-recommended Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests to quickly screen and diagnose TB cases,” Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa was cited by the DOH as saying.

An innovative all-oral regimen for drug-resistant TB cuts treatment time from two years to only six months, Herbosa added.

Globally, an estimated 10.7 million TB cases were recorded in 2024, with 6.8 per cent in the Philippines, according to the World Health Organization. Around 100 Filipinos die of tuberculosis daily, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the World Health Organization, TB is caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and it most often affects the lungs. TB is spread through the air when people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit. A person needs to inhale only a few germs to become infected.

Every year, 10 million people fall ill with tuberculosis (TB). Despite being a preventable and curable disease, 1.5 million people die from TB each year – making it the world’s top infectious killer.

TB is the leading cause of death of people with HIV and also a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance.

Most of the people who fall ill with TB live in low- and middle-income countries, but TB is present all over the world. About half of all people with TB can be found in 8 countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines and South Africa.

About a quarter of the global population is estimated to have been infected with TB bacteria, but most people will not go on to develop TB disease and some will clear the infection. Those who are infected but not (yet) ill with the disease cannot transmit it.

–IANS

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