2013-2016 National Tuberculosis Control Program Laboratory Network Strategic Plan: A Sub-Plan of the Philippine Plan of Action to Control Tuberculosis (PhilPACT)

The 2013-2016 Laboratory Network Strategic Plan (LNSP) is a sub-plan of the 2010-2016 Philippine Plan of Action to Control Tuberculosis (PhilPACT). This plan will serve as a roadmap to strengthen the network’s laboratory services to control TB. It is aligned with various existing strategic plans to improve the laboratory facilities and activities in the country.

The development of the LNSP took a significant amount of time, various multistakeholder consultations and technical expertise from DOH, NTP and partner technical agencies. The Technical Working Group (TWG) of the LNSP ensured alignment of the plan to various important documents of different agencies of the government, administrative and department orders, memoranda and office orders.

The Strength-Weakness-Opportunity-Threat (SWOT) analysis serves as the backbone for the prioritization of the key gaps to be addressed by the LNSP. Since the laboratory network is a complex system and various challenges need to be addressed in the next four years, there are four key gaps that will be addressed as priority, namely: (1) limited access to TB diagnostic services, (2) insufficient laboratory network management systems, (3) inadequate funding for the laboratory network and (4) weak leadership and management of the laboratory network.