Tuberculosis and Diabetes Mellitus Control and Care: The Need for a Coordinated Response

---

The prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in diabetic patients and of diabetes mellitus (DM) in TB patients is an area of concern. With the Philippines being endemic for TB and compounded by an upward trend for DM, there is a need to jointly address this tandem disease interaction. This Policy Note provides additional information to support an integrated approach to the considerable double burden of TB and DM. Among the key concerns raised by the study include the cost of bidirectional screening, the time required in busy outpatient services to carry out the screening tests, the need to build awareness of the tandem disease interaction among patients, and the creation of an integrated management system for TB-DM surveillance, control, and management.