09 December 2015 - The Philippines, led by Philippine Finance Undersecretary Jeremias Paul, Jr. and supported by the Philippine Mission to the United Nations (UN) Office and Other International Organizations in Geneva, participated in the Dialogue on Strengthening International Cooperation on Noncommunicable Diseases hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) on November 30 to December 01 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The dialogue is the first global meeting convened by the WHO on Noncommunicable Diseases (or NCDs, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, COPD, others) following the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2016-2030 Development Agenda.  With the adoption of “SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing,” international attention, customarily focused on mechanisms to prevent and control the spread of communicable (infectious) diseases (Ebola, HIV, Influenza and other pandemics) may also be directed towards the prevention and control of NCDs. 

Participating as a keynote speaker at the Session on “Financing National NCD Responses in the post-2015 Era,” Undersecretary Paul shared the Philippines’ experience in mobilizing financial resources to implement national action plans on health through Republic Act 10351 (Sin Tax Reform Act of 2012). The policy’s effectiveness in generating revenue for public health has been tremendously positive in its first two years of implementation.  According to the Undersecretary, in its first two years, the measure has:

• Generated US$ 3.17 billion (as of October 2015) in incremental revenues, far exceeding government projections.
• Increased funding for the Department of Health’s budget by 57.3% in 2014 and 63.2% in 2015 (from PHP 53.3 billion to PHP 87 billion) over 2013 levels.
• Revenues enabled the national government to subsidize the health insurance premiums of 14.7 million poor primary members in 2014, up from only 5.2 million registered primary members in 2012.

During the High-Level segment of the Dialogue, WHO Director General Margaret Chan stated, “We need to live with the reality that the Sustainable Development Goals – including addressing NCDs – will not be funded primarily from aid budgets. They should be sourced from national budgets, taxation, etc. I heard the wonderful example of the Philippines in how they use sin taxes to finance their important work in healthcare.” 

In his summation, Co-Chair Ambassador Jorge Lamonaco, Mexican Permanent Representative to the UN, said that there are generally three ways countries can build financing for health: through international aid, product investment, or taxation. Of these three, he noted that the direction of taxation as exemplified by the Philippines seemed the most likely to succeed in funding national health objectives.   

A sustained, intense international interest on the implementation of RA 10351 and other policies that may be crafted towards the attainment of all the SDGs is expected. It is hoped that the Philippines will enjoy similar positive feedback on the implementation of the programs funded by the Sin Tax Reform Act toward the attainment of SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing. END