Social trust and health seeking behaviours: A longitudinal study of a community-based active tuberculosis case finding program in the Philippines.

Introduction: Social trust is an important driver of health seeking behaviours and plays a particularly important role for diseases that have a high degree of stigma associated with them, such as tuberculosis (TB). Individuals experiencing poverty also face additional social and financial barriers in accessing care for TB. We examined an active case finding (ACF) initiative embedded in a program targeting those living in poverty ( implemented by International Care Ministries (ICM), a Philippine-based non-governmental organization (NGO), and analyzed how different forms of social trust may affect the initial uptake of ACF.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices of COVID-19 among income-poor households in the Philippines: A cross-sectional study.

Background: The presence of COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is raising important concerns about effective pandemic response and preparedness in the context of fragile health systems and the pervasiveness of misinformation. The objective of this study was to gain an understanding of how COVID-19 was perceived by households experiencing extreme poverty in the Philippines.

Methods: This study was conducted in partnership with International Care Ministries (ICM), a Philippine-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that runs a poverty-alleviation program called targeted towards extreme low-income households.

The Presence of Cough and Tuberculosis: Active Case Finding Outcomes in the Philippines.

The results of a tuberculosis (TB) active case finding (ACF) program, implemented by International Care Ministries (ICM) in the Philippines, were examined to understand how the presence of physical symptoms might influence ACF outcomes among extreme low-income Filipinos. ICM health staff implemented symptom screening in villages and suspected cases were referred to the closest rural health unit (RHU) for TB testing. ACF was carried out in Mindanao and the Visayas, across 16 different provinces.