A leader of the House of Representatives on Wednesday said the Philippine government is expected to implement measures aimed at preventing a full-blown epidemic of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, a disease which has already affected more than 50,000 Filipinos.
House Majority Leader and Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. made the statement following President Rodrigo Duterte’s imminent signing into law a bill which strengthens the country’s comprehensive campaign against HIV and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
The legislative measure, known as the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act, was ratified by both the Senate and the House of Representatives before Congress went into recess last Oct. 10.
Andaya said the legislative measure, once signed into law, will amend Republic Act 8504 (the Philippine National AIDS and Control Act of 1998)—a 20-year-old statute.
“RA 8504 serves as the national legal framework in the country’s fight against AIDS and we need to make it more responsive considering the advances in HIV research and policy,” the House leader said.
“This is an urgent task and we need to act fast. Time is not on our side,” he added.
Citing reports from the Philippine National AIDS Council, Andaya noted that the number of Filipinos living with [HIV/AIDS] will exceed a quarter of a million by 2030 unless the government take drastic actions to address the growing epidemic.
The Department of Health earlier said the Philippines had one of the ‘fastest-growing’ HIV epidemics in the world with 57,134 cases recorded from January 1984 to July 2018.
Dr. Joselito Feliciano, director of PNAC, estimates about 265,900 cases of Filipinos HIV/AIDS in the next decade. Majority of new infections were likely to be teenagers and young adults aged 15 to 24 years old.
Feliciano also noted that an average of 31 Filipinos are now diagnosed with HIV-AIDS every day, compared to the two new cases reported daily in 2008, 13 in 2013, and 22 in 2015.
Andaya said the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act aims to strengthen and reconstitute the PNAC with a separate budget under the General Appropriations Act. It shall have its own secretariat and staffing pattern.
The salient features of the measure include: improvement of the HIV-related programs within the DOH; clarification of roles and mandates of various government agencies and institutionalizes the country’s national strategic plan to fight HIV, which lays down multiyear strategies and interventions to reverse the epidemic; comprehensive provision on primary prevention, and gives the country the latitude to pursue evidence-based interventions to prevent the spread of HIV; guarantees access to HIV treatment and ensures free HIV medicines, including medicines to treat HIV-related infections. It provides for care and support programs for living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIVs); integration of HIV services into the country’s universal health coverage framework, including PhilHealth; removal of barriers to HIV services, such as age-related restriction to HIV testing and discrimination in healthcare settings; and the establishment of redress mechanisms and similar programs for PLHIV and communities that are at greater risk of getting infected with HIV.
Andaya commended the sponsors and authors of the measure in the Senate and the House of Representatives for expediting the approval of their separate versions and for exhibiting teamwork in the bicameral conference committee.
The Senate version of the measure, Senate Bill 1390, was sponsored by Senators Joseph Victor Ejercito and Risa Hontiveros. It was authored by Senators. Hontiveros, Loren Legarda, Antonio Trillanes, Juan Edgardo Angara, Grace Poe, and Nancy Binay.
The House version, House Bill 6617, was sponsored by Rep. Kaka Bag-ao with 83 other congressmen as principal authors.
