Malacañang called on Filipinos yesterday to unite and halt the spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in the country.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that the country is finally taking significant steps to avert the spread of the disease through House Bill 6617 or the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act which was approved on third and final reading by the House of Representatives recently.
“The passage of the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act will serve to strengthen the Universal Health Coverage Act given that the UHC covers preventive health services,” Roque, one of the principal authors of the measure, said on the occasion of World AIDS Day yesterday.
“The proposed law provides for policies and programs to prevent the spread of HIV and deliver treatment, care, and support services to Filipinos living with HIV in accordance with evidence-based strategies and approaches that follow the principles of human rights, gender equality, and meaningful participation of communities affected by the epidemic,” Roque said.
However, Roque said despite the approval of the bill, there is still much to be done to fully address the spread of the disease in the country.
“We have much left to do. We have to strengthen the stigma reduction mechanisms of existing laws and guarantees that the country’s HIV and AIDS response is premised on the respect, recognition, and promotion of human dignity,” Roque said.
“On a larger scale, government needs to address not just the health issues themselves but also the social determinants of health that contribute significantly to the persistence of these communicable diseases,” he added.
Roque urged the public to help in raising awareness of the disease and in decreasing, if not fully quelling, the level of stigma on those infected.
“As we commemorate World AIDS Day, we must work as one to increase the capacity of the country for early warning, risk reduction, and management of national and global health risks, including HIV-AIDS,” Roque said.
“We urge all Filipinos to help end the stigma of HIV- AIDS and contribute to prevent the spread of the disease. Together, let us support the government in this endeavor,” he added.
The Department of Health has said that HIV-AIDS continues to pose a significant threat to Filipino families as many countries continue to face the health issue.
Citing data from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS, the DoH said there 36.7 million people living with HIV globally last year.
“Thirty-three years after the first case of HIV was detected in the Philippines, the country now has a total of 46,985 HIV positive cases reported from January 1984 to August 2017. The total number of PLHIV in the Philippines is estimated to reach 142,000 by 2022, and 313,000 by 2030,” the DoH said. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)
