Senator Defensor Santiago introduced The Constitution, Article 11, Section 15, provides:
The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them. Thousands of infants each year are born with serious birth defects of the brain and spine, called neural tube defects. The most common of these are spina bifida, the incomplete closure of the spinal column, and anencephaly, a fatal condition in which an infant is born with a severely underdeveloped brain and skull.
Studies in the United States show that as many as seventy percent (70%) of neural tube birth defects could be prevented if all women of childbearing age consume four hundred (400) micrograms of folic acid daily, begriming before pregnancy. Folic acid is a B vitamin found naturally in foods such as leafy green vegetables, beans, citrus fruits, and juices and in certain multivitamin capsules. Unfortunately, a majority of women are neither aware of this prevention opportunity, nor consuming the recommended daily amount. Hence, this bill seeks to provide a national folic acid education campaign in order to urge women to take the simple step to prevent neural tube defects.*
Later, AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR a NATIONAL FOLIC ACID EDUCATION PROGRAM TO PREVENT BIRTH DEFECTS was approved.
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Folic Acid Promotion and Birth Defects Prevention Act.”
SECTION 2. Program Regarding Effects of Folic Acid in Prevention of Birth Defects. -
(A) In General. - The Secretary of Health shall carry out a program, directly or through grants or contracts, for the following purposes:
(1) To provide education and training for health professionals and the general public for purposes of encouraging each women of reproductive capacity, whether or not planning a pregnancy, to consume on a daily basis a dietary supplement that provides an appropriate level of folic acid.
(2) To conduct research with respect to such education and training, including identifying effective strategies for increasing the rate of consumption of folic acid by women of reproductive capacity.
(3) To conduct research to increase the understanding of the effects of folic acid in preventing birth defects, including understanding with respect to cleft lip, cleft palate, and heart defects.
(4) To provide for appropriate epidemiological activities regarding folic acid and 22 birth defects, including epidemiological activities regarding neural tube defects.
(B) Consultations with Private Entities. - In carrying out paragraph (A), the Secretary shall consult with appropriate public or private entities, including national non-profit private organizations, health professionals, and providers of health insurance and health plans.
(C) Technical Assistance. - The Secretary may, directly or through grants or contracts, provide technical assistance to public and non-profit private entities in carrying out the activities described in paragraph (A).
(D) Evaluations. - The Secretary shall, directly or through grants or contracts, provide for the evaluation of activities under paragraph (A) in order to determine the extent to which such activities have been effective in carrying out the purposes of the program under such subsection, including the effects on various demographic populations. Methods of evaluation under the preceding sentence may include surveys of knowledge and attitudes on the consumption of folic acid and on blood folate levels. Such methods may include complete and timely monitoring of infants who are born with neural tube defects.
(E) Authorization of Appropriations. - There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.
SECTION 3. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof, is held invalid or unconstitutional, the remainder of the law of the provision not otherwise affected shall remain valid and subsisting.
SECTION 4. Repealing Clause. - Any law, presidential decree or issuance, executive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary to, or inconsistent with, the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed, modified, or amended accordingly.
SECTION 5. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.
24 Approved
In the Philippines, congenital anomalies rank among the top 20 causes of death across the life span and are already the third leading cause of death in the infancy period (Philippine Department of Health, 1996). Despite the magnitude of the problem, no formal systematic registration of birth defects has been done in the country up until 1999. Various attempts have been made by different study groups to gather data but there was never a formal effort to consolidate the information and establish a centralized registry.
Data from various modes of ascertainment are hereby presented:
1) Philippine Birth Defects Registry Project,
2) Hospital In-Patient and Out-Patient Registries,
3) Prenatal Inventory and Neonatal Outcome Study Group,
4) Hospital Pathology Reports, and
5) Community Outreach Programs. Birth Defects Registry Project had the largest reporting of the different methods presented here. The most common birth defects were multiple congenital anomalies, congenital malformations of the tongue, mouth, and pharynx (ankyloglossia), cleft palate with cleft lip, Down Syndrome, congenital deformities of the feet (talipes equinovarus), anencephaly, other congenital malformations of the face and neck, congenital malformations of the musculoskeletal system (diaphragmatic hernia, gastroschisis), hypospadias, congenital hydrocephalus, polydactyly, syndactyly, and cleft lip.
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