The ASCENT project in the Philippines
The Philippines is one of the five countries where the ASCENT project is implemented. Over 90 health care facilities in the Bulacan Province, Pampanga Province and the National Capital Region are participating in the project. Patients and health care workers will make use of digital adherence technologies to support the former upon taking their daily TB medication at home, at work, or any venue of their choice. The first patients will be enrolled in 2020.
The Philippines has a population of 107 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,2019). In 2018, an estimated 591,000 people suffered from TB in the Philippines, giving a TB incidence rate of 554 per 100,000 population. An estimated 18,000 people suffered from multidrug-resistant TB. The WHO estimates 27,000 people died of TB in the Philippines.
news & Stories from the Philippines
The Community Advisory Board for the ASCENT project is established
Alex, 35 years, a miner and TB patient in Tanzania, was enrolled on 99DOTS digital adherence technology. Since the start of his treatment, he takes his medication daily. “It made my treatment easier and I wish the same for others.”
Bulacan and Pampanga provinces to test the use of digital adherence technologies
Randomization events were held in the Bulacan and Pampanga provinces in the Philippines to identify the health facilities which will use digital adherence technologies as part of the ASCENT project.
Virtual meeting to prepare ASCENT study activities
In July, the ASCENT project organized a virtual meeting for all Research Managers to prepare the study activities that will be conducted in the different ASCENT countries.
Successful TB REACH projects test how DATs work in the fight against TB
Since 2018, KNCV has rolled-out several Digital Adherence Technology (DAT) demonstration projects in countries such as the Philippines and Tanzania