The Philippines has a population of 114 million people and is one of the 30 high TB burden countries in the world, as listed by the World Health Organization (WHO Global Tuberculosis Report, 2022). In 2021, an estimated 741,000 people fell ill with TB and 21,000 people suffered from multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) in the the Philippines. The WHO estimates 61,000 people died of TB in the Philippines.

As novel and shorter treatment regimens have been approved recently for people with DR/MDR-TB, the country has devoted efforts to reach and treat this population. However, delays in treatment arrival to the Philippines led them to a phase by phase approach rather than a nationwide availability.

The implementation of BPaL regimen has started in 2021 under the LIFT-TB project. Reorganization in the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau (DPCB) has affected the approval of the updated National DR-TB guidelines.

The Philippines Business for Social Progress (PBSP) plays a pivotal role in supporting the Department of Health with the implementation of these shorter regimens. PBSP supports drug forecasting and procurement; TB Alliance support goes through 2024 in terms of readiness and planning for scale-up, milestone monitoring and monitoring performance of decentralized sites; KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation supports with guidelines updates, active drug-safety monitoring and management (aDSM) and technical assistance on the implementation process and ITRC supports with laboratory training.

All patients will be offered support using a smart pill box DAT as procured through the Global Fund regardless of regimen. While DATs will be offered to all people with DR-TB, other treatment adherence options will be considered depending on the infrastructure and logistics. A country roadmap will be key in rolling out the shorter regimens on a programmatic scale by aligning efforts and assessing the status of other components of a comprehensive care package.