CHN

PUBLIC

NCM 104
HEALTH LAWS

Ms. Analie Sapanza

Instructor
Objectives:
1. Define and discuss the importance of Public Health Laws
2. Enumerate and discuss the Public Health Laws
3. Discuss the ethical considerations in Community Health Nursing of each
Public Health Laws

WHAT IS PUBLIC HEALTH LAWS?

It is the study of the legal powers and duties of the state, in collaboration with its
partners (e.g., health care, business, the community, the media, and academe), to
ensure the conditions for people to be healthy to identify, prevent, and alleviate
risks to health in the population and the limitations on the state's power to
constrain individuals' autonomy, privacy, liberty, proprietary, or other legally
protected interests for the common good.
 IMPORTANCE
OF PUBLIC HEALTH
LAWS
Public Health Laws affect every aspect of life not only where but how individuals
and communities live, learn, work, and play. And the importance of Public Health
Laws is that, it can help prevent the spread of communicable diseases, ensure food
safety for consumption, provide access to transportation, and establish guidelines
for safe housing. Equally important is the foundational role that the law plays in
the everyday practice of public health. Law and policy are essential tools for
protecting and promoting the health of the public. It is also a fundamental tool that
assists states in the task of protecting people from threats to health, preventing
disease, and striving for healthy populations.

● The primary goal of international health laws is to ● Management of new techniques in the field of
improve global health status. health, such as biotechnologies, information, and
so on.
● To eradicate health risks for the global
environment or minimize them. ● To increase awareness and interest regarding
health.
● Legal intervention by making health policies and
laws to prevent non-communicable disease, diabetes
and other diseases.
 ETHICAL CONSIDERATION IN
COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSING
Ethical values are essential for all healthcare workers. Ethical practice is a foundation for nurses, who deal
with ethical issues daily. Ethical dilemmas arise as nurses care for patients. These dilemmas may, at times,
conflict with the Code of Ethics or with the nurse's ethical values. Nurses are advocates for patients and
must find a balance while delivering patient care. There are four main principles of ethics: autonomy,
beneficence, justice, and non-maleficence. Their profession needs to be aware of and recognize their own
integrity and moral character. The nursing profession must remain true to patient care while advocating
for patient rights to self-identify needs and cultural norms. Ethical considerations in nursing though
challenging, represent a true integration of the art of patient care and have a responsibility to themselves,
their profession, and their patients to maintain the highest ethical principles. It is important to advocate for
patient care, patient rights, and ethical consideration of practice. Ethics inclusion should begin in nursing
school and continue as long as the nurse is practicing.

 PUBLIC HEALTH LAWS

1. Magna Carta for Health Worker

2. Sanitation Code
3. Clean Air Act
4. Generic Act
5. National Health Insurance Act
6. National Blood Services Act
7. Law on Notifiable Diseases
8. Senior Citizen Laws
9. Revised Dangerous Drug Law
10.Act on Cheaper Medicine
11.Save the Children
12.Violence Against Women
13.Disaster Risk Management
14.Rooming in and Breastfeeding Act
 I. MAGNA CARTA FOR
HEALTH WORKER
Republic Act No. 7305 - also known as Magna Carta for Public
Health Workers. This Act aims: to promote and improve the social and
economic well-being of the health workers, their living and working
conditions and terms of employment; to develop their skills and
capabilities in order that they will be more responsive and better
equipped to deliver health projects and programs; and to encourage
those with proper qualifications and excellent abilities to join and
remain in government service.

II. SANITATION CODE

Presidential Decree No. 856 also known as The Code on Sanitation in
the Philippines - The promulgation of the Code on Sanitation on
December 23, 1975 by His Excellency, President Ferdinand E.
Marcos. This Code on Sanitation has for its ultimate objective the
improvement of the way of the Filipinos by directing public health
services towards the protection and promotion of the health of our
people.
 III. CLEAN AIR ACT
Republic Act No. 8749 - also known as the Philippine Clean Air Act,
is a comprehensive air quality management policy and program which
aims to achieve and maintain healthy air for all Filipinos.

IV. GENERIC ACT

Generics Act of 1988 or Republic Act No. 6675 . An Act to Promote,
Require and Ensure the Production of an Adequate Supply,
Distribution, Use and Acceptance of Drugs and Medicines Identified
by their Generic Names.
 V. NATIONAL HEALTH
INSURANCE ACT
Republic Act No. 7875. An act instituting a national health insurance
program for all Filipinos and establishing the Philippine Health
Insurance Corporation for the purpose.

VI. NATIONAL BLOOD

SERVICES ACT
Republic Act No. 7719, also known as the National Blood Services
Act of 1994, promotes voluntary blood donation to provide a sufficient
supply of safe blood and to regulate blood banks. This act aims to
inculcate public awareness that blood donation is a humanitarian act.
 VII. LAW ON
NOTIFIABLE DISEASES
It is hereby declared the policy of the State to protect and promote the
right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among
them. It shall endeavor to protect the people from public health threats
through the efficient and effective disease surveillance of notifiable
diseases including emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases,
diseases for elimination and eradication, epidemics, and health events
including chemical, radio-nuclear and environmental agents of public
health concern and provide an effective response system in compliance
with the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World
Health Organization (WHO).
 VIII. SENIOR CITIZEN
LAW

Republic Act No. 9994. An act granting additional benefits and

privileges to senior citizens. This is to recognize the rights of senior
citizens; to motivate and encourage the senior citizens to contribute to
nation building; to encourage their families and the communities they
live with to reaffirm the valued Filipino tradition of caring for the
senior citizens; to provide a comprehensive health care and
rehabilitation system for disabled senior citizens to foster their capacity
to attain a more meaningful and productive aging; and to recognize the
important role of the private sector in the improvement of the welfare
of senior citizens and to actively seek their partnership.
 IX. REVISED DANGEROUS
DRUG LAW
RA 9165 is the policy of the State : to safeguard the integrity of its
territory & the well-being of its citizenry, particularly the youth, from
the harmful effects of dangerous drugs on their physical & mental
well-being, and to defend the same against acts or omissions detrimental
to their development and preservation.

X. ACT ON CHEAPER
MEDICINE
The Law intends to achieve better health outcomes for the Filipino people by
ensuring that quality medicines are accessible and affordable to as many
Filipinos, especially the poor. When dealing with the issue of medicine access,
there are a number of factors to consider, as well as a number of issues and
concerns to address. Among the major and critical issues are rational drug use,
public perception of generics, health professional behavior in prescribing and
dispensing medicines, information asymmetry and exercising informed
choice, pricing, supply and distribution, and procurement system transparency,
respect for patient rights in relation to access by the poor, quality assurance,
and many others. This is why the law has many different interventions ready
to address these critical and major issues.
 XI. SAVE THE CHILDREN
Save the Children Philippines warmly welcomes a significant milestone
for children with and without disabilities in the Philippines as Republic
Act 11650. The Act Instituting a Policy of Inclusion and Services for
Learners with Disabilities in Support of Inclusive Education, was signed
into law on March 11, 2022. Save the Children Philippines lauds the
enactment of this law that safeguards the recognition, protection, and
promotion of the rights of all learners with disabilities whether in school
or out of school, to education based on equal opportunity.
 XII. VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN

According to Republic Act 9262, or the Anti-Violence Against Women

and Their Children Act of 2004, VAW is "any act or series of acts
committed by any person against a woman who is his wife, former wife,
or against a woman with whom the person has or had a sexual or dating
relationship, or with whom he has or had a common child, or against her
child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, with or without the family
abode, which results in or is likely which causes or is likely to cause
physical, sexual, psychological, or economic harm or suffering, including
threats of such acts, battery, assault, coercion, harassment, or arbitrary
deprivation of liberty.
 XIII. DISASTER RISK
MANAGEMENT

The Philippine Disaster Reduction and Management Act (RA 10121)

shifted the policy environment and the country's approach to disasters
from response to preparedness. Through the development of the National
Disaster Risk Management Framework, RA 10121 provides a
comprehensive, all-hazards, multi-sectoral, inter-agency, and
community-based approach to disaster risk management. As the master
plan, a National Disaster Risk Management Plan (NDRMP) is being
formulated, developed, and implemented to provide the strategies,
organization, and tasks of concerned agencies and local government units,
as well as other guidelines in dealing with disasters or emergencies. This
plan will hopefully result in a coherent, integrated, efficient, and
responsive disaster risk management at all levels achieved.
 XIV.ROOMING IN AND
BREASTFEEDING ACT
Republic Act 7600 - an act providing incentives to all government and
private health institutions with rooming-in and breastfeeding practices
and for other purposes.
The State adopts rooming-in as a national policy to encourage, protect
and support the practice of breastfeeding. It shall
create an environment where basic physical, emotional, and
psychological needs of mothers and infants are fulfilled through the
practice of rooming-in and breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding has distinct advantages that benefit both the infant and the
mother, as well as the hospital and the country that implements it. It is the
first preventive health measure that a child can receive at birth. It also
improves mother-child relationships. Furthermore, breastfeeding could
save the country valuable foreign exchange that would otherwise be spent
on milk imports.
 XIV.ROOMING IN AND
BREASTFEEDING ACT
Republic Act 7600 - an act providing incentives to all government and
private health institutions with rooming-in and breastfeeding practices
and for other purposes.
The State adopts rooming-in as a national policy to encourage, protect
and support the practice of breastfeeding. It shall
create an environment where basic physical, emotional, and
psychological needs of mothers and infants are fulfilled through the
practice of rooming-in and breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding has distinct advantages that benefit both the infant and the
mother, as well as the hospital and the country that implements it. It is the
first preventive health measure that a child can receive at birth. It also
improves mother-child relationships. Furthermore, breastfeeding could
save the country valuable foreign exchange that would otherwise be spent
on milk imports.