Consultant

POSITION : Consultant for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE : July 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) remains a major public health challenge in the Philippines despite continued progress in tuberculosis (TB) control efforts. According to the latest World Health Organization Global Tuberculosis Report 2024, the Philippines improved rifampicin drug susceptibility testing (DST) coverage in 2023, with 82% of new bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary TB cases and 91% of previously treated TB patients tested for rifampicin resistance.

However, only 12% of rifampicin-resistant TB cases underwent fluoroquinolone susceptibility testing, highlighting major gaps in the DR-TB diagnostic cascade. The limited expansion of second-line DST constrains timely identification of pre-XDR and XDR-TB cases and may contribute to inapp...