SRH and HIV/AIDS Linkages at Policies, Programmes and Service ...

iii. Service delivery - The extent towhich HIV services are integratedinto SRH services and likewise, theextent to which SRH services areintegrated into HIV services.1. Policy on Sexual andReproductive Healthand HIVThe Philippines has no shortage ofpolicies on sexual and reproductivehealth. The country is one of thesignatories of the 1967 United NationsDeclaration on Population. Thus, theCommission on Population (PopCom)was created in 1971 through RA 6365to manage population-related issues inthe country and to develop appropriatesolutions. It worked for the inclusionof family planning as part of the broadeducational programme and to providesafe and effective means of limiting orspacing birth to couples who desire it.Upon POPCOM’s recommendation,the government officially launchedthe National Population Program(NPP) which advocated a small family(approximately 2 to 4 children) as thenorm, and provided information andservices to reduce fertility rate. To helpdisseminate information on familyplanning, Presidential Decree (PD)965 was issued. This decree requiredcouples applying for a marriage licenseto undergo a seminar on familyplanning.The administration of PresidentCorazon Aquino (1986-1992)transferred the institutional andoperational responsibility of the familyplanning programme to the Departmentof Health. Family planning thenbecame a component of the total healthprogramme and was viewed as a healthintervention. Improving maternal andchild health, instead of merely reducingfertility, became its primary concern.More SRH-related policies wereintroduced in the succeeding years.However, these were mostly in the formof Administrative Orders (AOs) by theDepartment of Health.In the absence of a legislated policy,RH has a diminished importance inthe hands of the Executive Branch ofgovernment. At the DOH, elementsof RH are lodged at the NationalCenters for Disease Prevention andControl (NCDPC) through theFamily Health and Nutrition Office.Among its several programmes, threeprogrammes strongly relate to RH ---family planning, women’s health anddevelopment, and adolescent healthand development.Meanwhile, the Commission onPopulation (PopCom), which wasattached to the DOH at the start ofthe Arroyo administration (2000), alsohas an adolescent reproductive healthprogramme. Under the proposed bills,PopCom will be in-charge of advocacy,IEC, training and orientation on SRH.A national programme on reproductivehealth is proposed in all newly-filed billsfiled in 2010 and aim for a “NationalPolicy on Reproductive Health andPopulation and Development”.In 2005, the Department of Education(DepEd) issued DepEd Memorandum# 261, series of 2005 on the“Operationalization of the UNFPAassistedproject Institutionalizing ARH101