DOH BEGINS DISTRIBUTION OF CONTRACEPTIVES
DOH Secretary Duque III, Executive Director Juan Antonio A. Perez, Director General Nela Charade Puno, Usec Mario Villaverde, Usec Gerardo Bauygo
November 16, 2017

The Department of Health (DOH) has already started the distribution of family planning commodities to the regional health offices to resume the provision of essential reproductive health services to Filipino women and their families.

With the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) issuance of an advisory declaring all of the 51 contraceptive products to be “non-abortifacient” or cannot cause abortion, it is now “all systems go” for the DOH to fully implement the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) law.

This also means that the DOH can now include subdermal plants in its family planning program. As recommended, priority should now be given on the distribution of the estimated 250,000 implants currently being kept at the DOH warehouse.

It was also reported that DOH supply for Progestin-only pill is “zero” while the supply for the injectable contraceptives has already been consumed.