Republic Act 8504
Republic Act 8504
Republic Act 8504
An act promulgating policies and prescribing measures for the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS in
the Philippines, instituting a nationwide HIV/AIDS program, establishing a comprehensive HIV/AIDS
monitoring system, strengthening the Philippine national aids council, and for other purposes .
President:
1 Title
This Act shall be known as the "Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of
1998."
2 Declaration of policies.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is
a disease that
recognizes no territorial, social, political and economic boundaries for
which there is no known cure.
The gravity of the AIDS threat demands strong State action today, thus:
(a) The State SHALL PROMOTE PUBLIC AWARENESS about the causes,
modes of transmission, consequences, means of prevention and
control of HIV/AIDS through a comprehensive nationwide
educational and information campaign organized and conducted by
the State.
(c) The State shall promote utmost safety and universal precautions in
practices and procedures that carry the risk of HIV transmission.
(d) The State shall POSITIVELY address and seek to eradicate conditions
that aggravate the spread of HIV infection, including but not limited to,
poverty, gender inequality, prostitution, marginalization, drug abuse
and ignorance.
(b) "Anonymous Testing" — refers to an HIV testing procedure whereby the individual
being tested does not reveal his/her true identity. An identifying NUMBER OR SYMBOL
IS USED to substitute for the name and allows the laboratory conducting the test and the
person on whom the test is conducted to match the test results with the identifying
number or symbol.
(c) "Compulsory HIV Testing" — refers to HIV testing imposed upon a person attended
or characterized by the lack of or vitiated consent, use of physical force, intimidation or
any form of compulsion.
(d) "Contact tracing" — refers to the method of finding and counselling the sexual
partner(s) of a person who has been diagnosed as having sexually transmitted disease.
(e) "Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)" — refers to the virus which causes AIDS.
(f) "HIV/AIDS Monitoring" — refers to the documentation and analysis of the number
of HIV/AIDS infections and the pattern of its spread.
(g) "HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control" — refers to measures aimed at protecting non-
infected from contracting HIV and minimizing the impact of the condition of persons
living with HIV.
(i) "HIV-negative" — denotes the absence of HIV or HIV antibodies upon HIV testing.
(k) "HIV Transmission" — refers to the transfer of HIV from one infected person to an
uninfected individual, most commonly through
*sexual intercourse, blood transfusion, sharing of intravenous needles and during
pregnancy.
(o) "Person with HIV" — refers to an individual whose HIV test indicates, directly or
indirectly, that he/she is infected with HIV.
(r) "Prophylactic" — refers to any agent or device used to prevent the transmission of a
disease.
(s) "Sexually Transmitted Diseases" — refers to any disease that may be acquired or
passed on through sexual contact.
(t) "Voluntary HIV Testing" — refers to HIV testing done on an individual who, after
having undergone pre-test counselling, willingly submits himself/herself to such test.
(u) "Window Period" — refers to the period of time, usually lasting from two weeks to
six (6) months during which an infected individual will test "negative" upon HIV testing
but can actually transmit the infection.
including members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the
Philippine National Police (PNP),
shall be provided with the standardized basic information and instruction on HIV/AIDS
which shall include topics on confidentiality in the workplace and attitude towards
infected employees and workers.
while the Armed Forces Chief of Staff and the Director General of the PNP -
oversee the implementation