The HIV/Aids Policy Act of 2018 has officially been signed into law by Pres. Rodrigo Duterte yesterday. Government officials and netizens alike celebrated this achievement as this law will introduce newer and well-informed strategies to prevent and treat this epidemic.
According to presidential spokesperson and legal counsel Salvador Panelo, the president enacted the law after the Department of Health (DOH) disclosed that the Philippines has one of the highest increase of new HIV cases. “We laud our lawmakers including various stakeholders who immensely contributed to the passage of an updated legal framework addressing HIV and AIDS. This piece of landmark legislation will significantly reduce the stigma of people living with HIV or AIDS,” Panelo said.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who is the principal authors of the law, announced the passage on Twitter. “Today, we change the course of this rising epidemic, [and] hopefully, help usher in an AIDS-free generation,” she wrote. Sen. Grace Poe echoed this sentiment as well on her Twitter account.
Likewise, netizens and NGOs lauded this victory, saying that this is the progress our country needs.
If you want to know more about what the law entails, Akbayan Partylist created an information sheet for everyone.
From January 1984 to September 2018, over 50,000 cases of HIV/AIDS were recorded in the Philippines. Metro Manila currently has the highest number with 23,478 cases (40 percent). Hopefully we’ll see some improvement on with the enactment of the HIV/AIDS Policy Act of 2018, most especially in breaking the stigma surrounding it.
Photo courtesy of Pexels
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