Paper Title
Implementation of Dots in Rural Health Units of Tarlac City: An Assessment

Abstract
The study assessed the implementation of the TB-DOTS implementation in ten RHUs in Tarlac City for 2015 and 2016. Record from the RHUs were obtained to gather data on the TB cases and the success rates. In addition, RHU personnel, volunteer health workers and patients were included as respondents of the study. The aims of the study were (1)describe the TB-DOTS implementation in terms of the procedure and the number of the health personnel; (2) determine the new and relapse TB cases from the RHUs in 2015 and 2016; (2) assess the outcome of the new cases of TB-DOTS program in terms of the success rates in each of the RHUs; (3) identify the problems in the implementation of the TB-DOTS; and (4) propose intervention measures to improve the implementation of the TB-DOTS. Findings revealed that in 2015, all RHUs met the target success rates and in fact, succeeded the 90% goal set by the DOH. However, in 2016, two RHUs failed to meet the 90% target. Problems identified to have contributed to the low success rates in the two RHUs were the inability to locate the patients or they failed to go for treatment; deaths in the course of therapy and some were still undergoing therapy at the time of data collection. Keywords - TB-DOTS, New Cases, Relapse Cases, Success Rate, Failure Rate