DOH Eyes Expanded HIV Preventive Treatment, Testing Coverage

The Department of Health (DoH) is set to expand the coverage of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) outpatient HIV treatment package to include preventive medicine and expanded testing, as it aims to achieve its target of having 95% of people living with HIV (PLHIV) undergo treatment. Secretary Edwin M. Mercado announced during a budget hearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations that the expansion of the Outpatient HIV/AIDS Treatment (OHAT) package to include pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and testing through the YAKAP (Yaman ng Kalusugan Program) is intended to significantly boost the current treatment coverage rate. Currently, only 66% of Filipinos living with HIV are on medication, translating to 100,671 individuals, which Mercado described as still relatively far from the target. The current OHAT package provides PLHIV access to antiretroviral therapy, a medication that suppresses the virus, and other essential medicines, with an annual benefit of up to P58,000. However, the program and the primary care benefit program YAKAP do not currently cover preventive treatment for HIV, such as PrEP. Party-list Rep. Percival “Perci” V. Cedaña questioned the sufficiency of the agency’s proposed 2027 budget to meet its HIV targets, citing millions in shortfalls, particularly for HIV self-testing kits, condoms, and lubricants. “The gaps are somewhat glaring,” Cedaña said in Filipino during the budget hearing. Mercado acknowledged the need to improve procurement processes but noted that the agency has already enhanced its systems by consolidating stock-level data from every region to ensure sufficient supplies without creating excess or insufficient inventory. Of the DoH’s total proposed budget of P353.8 billion, P29.1 billion is allocated for a functional primary care system (Pillar 2). Under this allocation, P6.9 billion is designated for the prevention and control of communicable diseases, with a target of testing 2.2 million HIV clients.