BACKGROUND AND IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES: Despite the dual passage of the Philippines’ National Integrated Cancer Control Act (NICCA) and Universal Health Care Act six years ago, sizable gains have yet to be achieved in several key pillars, especially health promotion. COVID-19 pandemic focal shifts further receded cancer control progress. With its decentralized, semi-federal governmental structure of over 1.600 local government units (LGUs), accelerating and mainstreaming cancer control policy requires localized implementation. This is especially true for highly-dense and -urbanized LGUs like Quezon City, the country’s most populous city (3.1 million), where the dynamic complex of demographics and social determinants complicate health policy regimes.
INTERVENTION OR RESPONSE: Local legislators, with the technical assistance of the Department of Health, City Health Department, and CSOs like Philippine Cancer Society and Cancer Coalition Philippines, developed a model local integrated cancer control ordinance, patterned after the whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach of NICCA. Passed as Quezon City Ordinance No. SP-3285, the ordinance consolidated policy support for interventions across primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of healthcare, as well as population-level interventions.
RESULTS AND IMPACT: Since its passage, the ordinance fast-tracked Quezon City's cancer control efforts, including advocacies specific to tobacco control. This included concretizing a partnership between the city and the Lung Center of the Philippines on lung cancer screening. It created policy reform momentum, leading to ordinances establishing a Cervical Cancer Elimination Program and prohibiting smoking/e-cigarette use in parks. While tailor-fitted to local cancer epidemiology, the ordinance allowed flexibility and comprehensiveness for adoption and iteration by other LGUs; thereby, soliciting support for adoption in eight provinces and three cities as of December 2024.
CONCLUSIONS: Positive early results demonstrate that multi-stakeholder, interdisciplinary policy engagement promises to further optimize the impact of Quezon City's cancer control ordinance. As legal basis for institutional mandate and fiscal support, the ordinance promises to catalyze local tobacco control efforts towards significant tobacco burden reduction.