The Department of Health (DOH) is one of the agencies in the Philippines that primarily

administers accessible public health and information services towards the Filipino citizens. It regularly
ensures the provision of health care in sustaining the total well-being of a person. In line with this, they
develop, implement, and mandate programs tackling various health concerns to address and give
awareness. One of the programs encompasses the People with Disabilities.

Persons with disabilities (PWDs), refers to those individuals whose intellect, social, mental,
physical and or sensory skills where afflicted, inhibiting them to fully participate which differentiates
them to have an equal access in the society. United Nations once said even under normal circumstances
or situations, PWD’s are less likely to be granted with equal access especially in health access and
financial difficulties. Furthermore, as stated in Article 27 of United Nations Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), emphasizes the right to opportunity which thereof but not limited to
provide accommodation, prohibit discrimination to ensure and enable PWDs.

The Health and Wellness Program for Persons with Disabilities envisions to sustain a country
wherein PWD’s will be able to have granted access to inclusive health for their welfare. It intends to
achieve the following objectives:

1. To recognize barriers thus improving the access to PWDs in acquiring health care services
and programs
2. To ensure the rehabilitation services for PWDs in providing accessibility, availability,
appropriateness and affordability
3. To assure the development and implementation of policies and guidelines not limited to
health service packages including finance for payment schemes of PWDs health services
4. To upgrade the capacity of health providers and stakeholders in alleviating the health status
of PWDs.
5. To reinforce collaboration with and among stakeholders and sectors of society in enhancing
regular dialogue interactions
6. To facilitate in data gathering for the analysis of reliable, timely and complete researches so
as to promote data dissemination on health-related issues of PWDs for the establishment of
evidence-based policies and interventions.

The said program is anchored World Health Organization’s Global Disability Action Plan 2014-2021. It
adheres to (1) elimination of pre-existing barriers in improving the access to health services and
programs; (2) strengthening the expansion of rehabilitation; (3) heightens the collection of relevant and
internationally comparable data on disability to further provide research support centers focused on
disability related services.

National Disability Prevalence Survey (NDPS) is allotted for individuals age 15 and over in measuring
different levels of disability at the population level ranging from low, moderate to severe levels of
disability conducted by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in 2016. It has 10, 240 sample individuals
nationwide rendering the results as follows:
 Above all, women with disabilities were the most affected due to inability to obtain appropriate
diagnostic and treatment services. This may worsen impairment and can affect their daily tasks including
the capacity to care for their children. Lack of adequate access to treatment can result in less
opportunities to participate in education and obtain gainful employment, and the cycle goes on.

RA 7277, An Act Providing for The Rehabilitation, Self-Development and Self-Reliance of

Disabled Person and their Integration Into The Mainstream Of Society And For Other Purposes is under
the endorsement of Health and Wellness program for Persons with Disabilities conducted by the DOH.
The National Council for Disability Affairs (NCDA) categorized 7 foregoing disability, namely: (1)
Communication Disability; (2) Disability due to chronic illness; (3) Visual Disability; (4)
Mental/Psychosocial Disability; (5) Intellectual Disability; (6) Orthopedic Disability; and (7) Learning
Disability. The underlying principle behind this is that people under these circumstances contribute to
the population proportion and thus the State shall hereby acknowledge the privileges safeguarding their
rehabilitation, self-development, self-reliant to be able to live freely as with the persons outside this
scope. It stipulates respect as to enabling them positively competing into the mainstream of society.

A lot of intrusions of programs were implemented and to be implemented with regards to the
cases of health access for Persons with Disabilities like giving them 20% discount as a compliance to the
Magna Carta , conducting training for disability sensitivity and registry for PWD to provide them
technical assistance. Yet it does not still satisfy the objectives mentioned above. In fact, in 2013, a
MediumTerm Strategic Plan (2013-2017) was developed to strengthen the existing health program for
PWDs, still it has many rooms for improvement. There were not enough data to supply the progress of
Health and Wellness for Persons with Disabilities but this a clear indication to further strengthen to
address the pre-existing dilemma of our PWDs.
 KEY PERFORMANCE AREA
STRENGTHEN DISABILITY RIGHTS
REFERENCES
Celia M. Reyes & Charina Cecille M. Reyes & Arkin A. Arboneda, 2018. "Health Practices of
Children and Women with Disabilities," Working Papers id:12856, eSocialSciences.
Health And Wellness Program For Persons With Disabilities. (n.d.). DOH.
https://doh.gov.ph/persons-with-disabilities
KEY INDICATORS
1. 20% discount on health services and
priority lane as part of protocol
2. Philippine Registry for PWDs for faster
track registration and data management.
3. Counselling for PWDs
4. Disability Sensitivity Training for Health
Promotion Officers, Provincial and
Regional PWD Coordinators so as to
awaken the health needs of PWDs
5. Reports and news promoting to the
capabilities of PWD’s
6. Continued partnership with NGOs that
can provide rehabilitation services to
PWDs
7. Engagement and involvement in relation
to strategic framework for PWDs
8. Continuously obtain researches and
consensus to extract statistics in the
accessibility of health services for PWDs
9. PWDs are automatically covered by the
National Health Insurance Program of the
Philippine Health Insurance Corp.
(PhilHealth)
10. Having an Identification Card to
distinguish PWDs from not so as to
experience the privileges