NAGBIGAY ng 120 storybooks ang United States Agency for International Development’s TB Platforms Project sa Department of Education Schools Division Office ng Meycauayan, Bulacan noong Enero 26 para ikuwento ang buhay ng mga Filipinong may tuberculosis.

Pinamagatang ‘Tibay ng Dibdib’, ang storybook ay umiikot sa magkapatid na babaeng matagumpay na nalabanan ang Drug Resistant at Drug Susceptible Tuberculosis.

Ipinakikita nito, sa murang edad, ang panganib na dulot ng TB, kung paano ito magagamot, at ang mga dapat gawin sakaling isa sa mga miyembro ng pamilya ay magkaroon ng karamdaman.

Tampok sa ‘Tibay ng Dibdib’ ang pagmamahalan at suportahan ng pamilyang Filipino, higit ang diwa ng ‘walang iwanan basta kapamilya’.

Nagpapasalamat sa mga donasyon si SDO Meycauayan Superintendent Carolina Violeta.

Sinabi niya na hango sa tunay na buhay ang kwento na tiyak kapupulutan ng aral pangkalusugan at pampamilya.

“DepEd welcomes learning materials on health education especially on TB since it is a public health concern like Covid19 and storybooks are relevant reading materials especially because ‘Tibay ng Dibdib’ is a true story,” wika ni Violeta.

Kaakibat ng USAID sa programang ito ang Department of Health na may layuning wakasan ang epidemya ng TB sa mga bata.

Ayon kay DOH Regional Director Cesar Cassion, “Two years ago, the United Nations General Assembly convened Presidents and Prime Ministers at the first ever High-Level Meeting on TB. The HLM concluded with UN member states’ approval of a concise and action-oriented political declaration on TB. Together, the commitments they formalized hold the power to catalyze the action we need to end this epidemic preying on society’s most vulnerable members: children.

“More than anything else, the story behind these two young sisters who survived TB is a narrative that we would be happy to hear and share to our family and community. This is a story about how one family faced the challenges of TB diagnosis, care and treatment. This is a story that highlights how we, in Central Luzon, are implementing the TB program. How each sector contributed to the two sisters getting cured of TB,” dagdag pa niya.

Para naman mabasa ng mas maraming bata ang ‘Tibay ng Dibdib’ ay minabuti ng USAID na ibahagi ang e-copies nito na libreng maia-upload sa online learning management systems ng mga pampublikong paaralan ng Meycauayan.

Katuwang din ng USAID, DepEd, at ng DOH ang Sophia School at Inquirer Read Long Program. Nais nilang maibahagi ang kuwento sa mas maraming paaralan sa Filipinas.