The Project Red Ribbon Care Management Foundation (TRR) has been helping a lot of patients who have opportunistic infections, who are confined in the hospitals all over the country. The Foundation helps in alleviating the burden of medical treatment and one of the biggest challenges it faces is one infection that is deadly and very costly. Cryptococcal meningitis.
In the recent months, in the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine - AIDS Research Group (RITM-ARG) in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, there is an increasing rate of admission for cryptococcal meningitis. In this month alone, TRR has handled 5 cases of cryptococcal meningits. Shortened as "crypto-meningitis", this infection is very rare but affects those with lowered immune system, those with HIV. This is very costly as usually fluconazole is prescribed, an antifungal medication which costs around P400.00. The treatment is daily, and most of the time treatment lasts for 2 years to prevent recurrence. The diagnostics needed also demand high cost of laboratory tests, including lumbar tap and CT scan or MRI which are very burdensome to individuals especially the indigent.
In the Philippines, with minimum wage of about P460+, the treatment for crypto-meningitis is really hard to maintain. TRR had economically challenged clients who had to choose between food and medicine. Thus, the increase in cases of re-admission to wards. Let's note the fact here that crypto-meningitis is a life threatening disease and mortality rate is high, and TRR had been a witness to this.
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