DAGUPAN CITY (PIA) – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will allocate $250,000 to the provincial government of Pangasinan for the adoption of the Tuberculosis Implementation Framework Agreement (TIFA) project.
 
Said project is designed to further reduce the prevalence of tuberculosis cases in Pangasinan.
 
The TIFA, a USAID-funded project that finances up to 24 priority TB countries, aims to accelerate the country’s progress towards ending the disease.
 
As a show of support and to further reduce the spread of TB cases in the province, Governor Ramon Guico III will sign a five-year cooperative agreement with Tien Ngo, senior agreements management officer of TIFA, at the John Snow, Inc. (JSI) Research and Training Institute, Inc. in the US.
 
This was after the provincial board of Pangasinan unanimously approved on Monday the Resolution No. 1430 - 2023 sponsored by board member and chair of the committee on health, Dr. Sheila Marie Baniqued.
 
“TIFA is a key component of the USAID’s global accelerator to end TB and the journey to self-reliance that develops and manages partnerships with the local government entities and other local partners to implement locally generated solutions to improved TB services in USAID priority countries,” the resolution stated.
 
Moreover, under TIFA, JSI Research and Training Institute, Inc., is building country ownership and accountability to accelerate host governments along the journey to self-reliance by building their capacity and commitment and leveraging domestic resources to increase impact and sustain important investments.
 
During the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Session on Monday, Dr. Cielo Almoite of the Provincial Health Office (PHO) disclosed that the province’s most recent TB case detection rate was 78.95%, with a 440.42% TB case notification rate, and a 96.59% treatment success rate.
 
In an interview with Nurse Eugenio Parangas of Pangasinan PHO, he stated that TB cases in the province have increased this year but are still at an “average” rate.
 
With the said data, the PHO, which spearheads the implementation of the TB Control Program in the province, will oversee the schedule of activities to be conducted in line with the program.
 
Likewise,  the PHO is working for the effective and efficient delivery of quality clinical and laboratory services to TB patients covered by TIFA under the USAID-funded project. (JCR/AMB/JCDR/PIA Pangasinan)