Correction: Expansion of social protection is necessary towards zero catastrophic costs due to TB: The first national TB patient cost survey in the Philippines.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Adherence trajectory as an on-treatment risk indicator among drug-resistant TB patients in the Philippines.

Introduction: High levels of treatment adherence are critical for achieving optimal treatment outcomes among patients with tuberculosis (TB), especially for drug-resistant TB (DR TB). Current tools for identifying high-risk non-adherence are insufficient. Here, we apply trajectory analysis to characterize adherence behavior early in DR TB treatment and assess whether these patterns predict treatment outcomes.

Expansion of social protection is necessary towards zero catastrophic costs due to TB: The first national TB patient cost survey in the Philippines.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease associated with poverty. Moreover, a significant proportion of TB patients face a substantial financial burden before and during TB care. One of the top targets in the End TB strategy was to achieve zero catastrophic costs due to TB by 2020.

Cost-effectiveness of bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid for treatment of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in South Africa, Georgia and the Philippines.

Objectives: Patients with highly resistant tuberculosis have few treatment options. Bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid regimen (BPaL) is a new regimen shown to have favourable outcomes after six months. We present an economic evaluation of introducing BPaL against the extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) standard of care in three epidemiological settings.

Impact of shelter-in-place orders on TB case notifications and mortality in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Policies implemented to slow transmission of COVID-19 are expected to have disrupted delivery of routine health services, including tuberculosis (TB) care.

Methods: We analyzed daily counts of drug-susceptible (DS)-TB case notifications from all health facilities affiliated with the Philippines National TB Program (NTP) before and after implementation of community quarantine (January 1-December 31, 2020). Using an interrupted time series design, we assessed the immediate and sustained effects of community quarantine on TB case reporting.

The impact of COVID-19 and the restoration of tuberculosis services in the Western Pacific Region.

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Use of GeneXpert and the role of an expert panel in improving clinical diagnosis of smear-negative tuberculosis cases.

Setting: A high proportion of notified tuberculosis cases in the Philippines are clinically diagnosed (63%) as opposed to bacteriologically confirmed. Better understanding of this phenomenon is required to improve tuberculosis control.

Objectives: To determine the percentage of smear negative presumptive tuberculosis patients that would be diagnosed by GeneXpert; compare clinical characteristics of patients diagnosed as tuberculosis cases; and review the impact that the current single government physician and a reconstituted Tuberculosis Diagnostic committee (expert panel) may have on tuberculosis over-diagnosis.

Referral and treatment outcomes of tuberculosis patients who crossed the border from Japan to the philippines.

Background: The referral and treatment outcomes of tuberculosis (TB) patients referred from Japan to the Philippines have not yet been systematically reported. This study aimed to describe the cross-border referral process for TB patients referred from Japan to the Philippines.

Methods: This is a retrospective descriptive review of the referral process between the two countries.

Restarting the tuberculosis programme post-Haiyan.

Problem: Typhoon Haiyan damaged or destroyed health infrastructure, equipment and services essential to the Philippine National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP), and it had to be re-established in the affected areas in Regions 6, 7 and 8. Continuing treatment and restoring diagnostic capacity were also challenging.

Context: The Philippines has one of the highest tuberculosis (TB) burdens in the world.

The tuberculosis profile of the Philippines, 2003-2011: advancing DOTS and beyond.

The Philippines is one of the highest tuberculosis (TB) burden countries in the world with nationwide coverage of directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS) achieved in 2003. This study reports on the National TB Control Programme (NTP) surveillance data for the period 2003 to 2011. During this period, the number of TB symptomatics examined increased by 82% with 94% completing the required three diagnostic sputum microscopy examinations.