The workplace is the fertile ground for tubercolosis, or TB, the sixth leading cause of death and illness in the Philippines, a Labor official said Thursday.
“They [workers] spend more than half of their day in the workplace. Likewise, workers are highly mobile, so the frequency of TB transmission is very easy [given these circumstances],” Department of Labor Undersecretary Teresa Soriano said in her speech during the commemoration of The World TB Day at the SM Mall of Asia.
TB is a deadly disease caused by mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans and is spread through coughing, sneezing or spitting. The good news is, it is curable.
“This situation minimizes productivity because employees eventually get sick and accumulate lots of absences that disrupt production,” she added.
The employers, according to Soriano, should protect their employees’ right to work in an environment without undue health hazards.
“Clearly, there is a need for TB control in the workplace,” Soriano said.
At least 75 percent of TB cases in the Philippines are early detected, while the country’s TB treatment success rate is 85 percent.
Such relatively high figures, however, are still not enough for Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral.
“TB is the leading cause of death in the Philippines in 40 years. Now, it is at sixth place. We still have a long way to go,” Cabral said.
At the World TB Day celebration, the SM Group of Companies signed a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Health, while the local governments represented by the League of Municipalities and League of Provinces of the Philippines sealed a Grant Agreement with USAID’s TB LINC Project to promote cooperation and innovative practices to improve TB control in the workplace and in communities.
“But it is good that we have these projects so that we can people will realize that it is not shameful to have TB and that they should have themselves examined so that they can be cured,” Cabral added. –LLANESCA T. PANTI Reporter, Manila Times
July 2025
Nutrition Month
“Give us much more than P50 increase
for proper nutrition!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos
July
3 July – International Day of Cooperatives
3 July – International Plastic Bag Free Day
5 July – World Youth Skills Day
7 July – Global Forgiveness Day
11 July – World Population Day
17 July – World Day for International Justice
28 July – World Nature Conservation Day
30 July – World Day against Trafficking in Persons
Monthly Observances:
Schools Safety Month
Nutrition Month
National Disaster Consciousness Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 2: Cultural Communities Week
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development Week
Week 3: National Science and
Technology Week
National Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation Week
July 1-7:
National Culture Consciousness Week
July 13-19:
Philippines Business Week
Week ending last Saturday of July:
Arbor Week
Daily Observances:
First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines
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