ToBe or Not ToBe
OPPI Organizes “End Workplace TB” Awareness Event at King’s Court
According to the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2024, the incidence of TB in the Philippines was 739,000 in 2023, representing an increase of 17% in the incidence rate from 2015 to 2023.1 Globally, TB is once again the leading infectious disease killer in 2023, surpassing COVID-19. 2
Aligned with the Otsuka philosophy of better health worldwide, on August 28, 2024, Otsuka (Philippines) Pharmaceutical, Inc. (OPPI) conducted a TB awareness activity geared towards the employees in the building where the OPPI offices are located. The activity, “ToBe or not ToBe” aimed to promote awareness of the disease, especially in the workplace, and to provide a mechanism for the underserved group in the fight against tuberculosis. A Zumba session, attended by 60 OPPI employees as well as employees in the King’s Court complex, kicked off the activity, followed by a talk provided by the team of TBPeoplePH.
Simultaneously, a mobile X-ray vehicle was available for those who would like to get a chest X-ray, as a first step in determining the likelihood that they are afflicted by the disease. Employees from the building and surrounding workplaces availed themselves of an X-ray. Individuals with findings were given the option to partake in the sputum test provided to determine if they were positive for tuberculosis or not.
This activity brought to light an unserved population in the fight against TB, namely individuals who are employed but are not provided health care coverage by their employers. This group comprises employees of third-party agencies (commonly referred to as contractual employees in the Philippines), self-employed people, and employees of small enterprises that do not yet have the financial capacity to provide such benefits to their employees.
Contractual workers are said to account for between 27-45% of total employment in the Philippines.3 According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), there are approximately 48.16 million employed Filipinos in 2024 4. Therefore, 27% of this figure translates to around 13 million Filipinos who may lack access to regular TB testing. This is indeed a call to action that must not be ignored.
1 World Health Organization (WHO). https://www.who.int/teams/global-tuberculosis-programme/tb-reports/global-tuberculosis-report-2024. Accessed Dec 13, 2024.
2 World Health Organization (WHO). Tuberculosis resurges as top infectious disease killer. https://www.who.int/news/item/29-10-2024-tuberculosis-resurges-as-top-infectious-disease-killer. Accessed Dec 13, 2024.
3 Rojo, D. Philippine Legal Research. Fair Employment for Filipino workers: The End of Contractualization and the Start of Regularization of Filipino Workers, https://legalresearchph.com/. Accessed Dec. 20, 2024. [1]
4 Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Labor Force Survey, https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/labor-force-survey. Accessed Dec. 20, 2024