
The Philippine Coalition Against Tuberculosis (PhilCAT), a 63 member coalition of government and non-government organizations, academe, medical and non-medical professional societies, research organizations, patient and advocacy groups, corporate foundations and pharmaceutical companies together with other partners in TB control, will commemorate the World TB Day on March 23, 2014, Sunday, to be held at the UNILAB Bayanihan Center, Pioneer Street, Pasig City from 7:00AM to 11:00AM.
The objective of the event is to step up advocacy efforts together with all stakeholders and sectors, with a local theme “STOP TB: Makialam, Tara Na!” as we are nearing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) countdown to 2015. This message, a call for action among all TB stakeholders, provides a follow through from last year’s theme. The emphasis, however, is more on getting everyone on board to reach the thousands of Filipinos who do not have the access to quality TB services or are stigmatized or shy to even consult. In 2013, the key message of NTP through the approved 3-year National Communication Plan was to eliminate the stigma attached to the disease. This year’s theme is enjoining all sectors to actively participate in ensuring that every Filipino with likely symptoms and signs of tuberculosis with seek proper medical care, receive quality care and get treated.
To celebrate the concerted efforts to encourage the general public towards better health-seeking behavior and delivery of better quality services on TB diagnosis and treatment, all sectors have been invited to prepare a 5-minute audio visual presentation to highlight what each sector has done and will continue to do to help achieve and sustain the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for TB. This will be shown during the World TB Day celebration, together with other sectors, to give meaning to the campaign “Tara Na” to control TB in various ways by sector. The video per sector will be shown as prelude to the symbolic lighting of torches from eleven sectors which will be done together with the Secretary of Health.