Healthy workplace policy includes LGBTQ+

The general guidelines of the recently issued National Policy Framework on the Promotion of Healthy Workplace has included "the promotion of health, safety, and well-being of workers who are with disabilities, critically ill, senior citizens, pregnant and lactating mothers, indigenous people, indigents, rebel returnees, individuals who are part of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) community, and other vulnerable individuals in the workforce." The Department of Health jointly issued this policy with the Department of Labor and Employment and Civil Service Commission. 

Tagged as DOH-DOLE-CSC Joint Administrative Order No. 2023-0001, the policy is pursuant to the Universal Health Care Act, Republic Act 11223, which mandated the DOH to scale up health promotion across the life stages and in different settings. It also aligned with laws and policies that established the country's occupational health and safety standards.

The new  joint policy specifically aims to set the directions to guide settings-based health promotion for the Filipino workforce, and to identify the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders. The Order applies to the whole of DOH, DOLE and CSC, including their attached agencies and offices, counterparts in local government and the Bangsamoro autonomous region, and all other concerned public and private entities. 

It mainly articulates the country's health promotion priorities -- diet and physical activity, environmental health, immunization, substance use, mental health, sexual and reproductive health, violence and injury prevention -- as well as action areas of implementation based on the Ottawa Charter.

Read: DOH-DOLE-CSC JAO No. 2023-0001 dated April 5, 2023