Content area
Full Text
The base paper by Enarson & Billo includes a thoughtful account of the DOTS programme's development, from its inception following the Declaration of Amsterdam, the World Health Assembly resolution, and the workshop of National TB Programme Managers of 22 high-burden countries.
As a high-burden country, the Philippines participated in all three milestone events. The story of DOTS implementation in the country had begun five years before, when the WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific Region and the newly appointed Philippine Secretary of Health agreed in mid-1995 to give priority attention to tuberculosis by allocating at least half of the country's WHO funds (roughly US$ 2 million per biennium) to initiate a major TB control effort. By mid-1996, 16 out of the country's 77 provinces were selected as pilot sites.
From the start, the NTP had to deal with the administrative difficulties introduced by...