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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
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PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 7

JUN 25 20m

JOINT ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER

No. 2021-_QDO0\

SUBJECT: Guidelines on the Public Availability and Accessibility of all Health,

Nutrition, and Demographic-related Administrative and Survey Data

I. BACKGROUND

Health data
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a vital component in the provision of quality health services in attaining
Health Care (UHC) for all Filipinos. It is important in the field of
scientific research and studies, and in crafting sound policies and plans for improving
the health status of the nation. Timely, transparent, accurate, and useful data enable
evidence-informed decision making that would affect the overall healthcare system.
However, despite its significance, the availability and accessibility of health data in the
country remains poor.

In this regard, Section 31.c of the Republic Act (RA) No. 11223 or the Universal Health
Care (UHC) Act provides that “All health, nutrition, and demographic-related
administrative and survey data generated using public funds shall be considered public
records and be made accessible to the public unless otherwise prohibited by law:
Provided, That any person who requests a copy of such public records may be required
to pay the actual costs of reproduction and copying of the requested public records.”

This policy, along with RA 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012 and the Executive
Order (EO) No. 2 or the Freedom of Information (FOI) EO, provides the guidelines on
the public availability and accessibility of all health, nutrition, and demographic-related
administrative and survey data generated using public funds.

II. OBJECTIVES

This Joint Administrative Order aims to:

A. Prescribe rules in making all health, nutrition, and demographic-related
administrative and survey data generated using public funds public records, and
publicly available and accessible; and
B. Define roles of Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA),
and other national agencies in the implementation of this Order.

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III. SCOPE OF APPLICATION

This Order shall apply to the DOH, DOH-Centers for Health Development, its attached
agencies, and all the offices and facilities under its jurisdiction; the Ministry of Health-
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MOH-BARMM) subject to
the applicable provisions of RA 11054 or the ‘Bangsamoro Organic Act’ and
subsequent rules and policies issued by the Bangsamoro government; PSA; and,
relevant public offices (National Government Agencies [NGAs] and Local Government
Units [LGUs])), private organizations, institutions, and all others concerned.

IV. DEFINITION OF TERMS

For purposes of this Order, the following terms shall mean and be understood as
follows:

A. Anonymized data - refers to a type of information in which data anonymization

tools encrypt or remove personally identifiable information from datasets for the
purpose of preserving a data subject’s privacy.

B. Data anonymization -refers to the process of protecting private or sensitive

information by erasing or encrypting identifiers that connect an individual to stored
data.

C. De-identification - refers to the removal of identifiers to protect against

inappropriate disclosure of personal information that can be linked with specific
individuals.

D. Covered public data - refers to publicly funded health, nutrition, and demographic-
related administrative and survey data approved by the PSA Board to be made
public record.

E. Interagency Committee on Health and Nutrition Statistics IACHNS) - refers

to the committee established through PSA Board Resolution No. 4 Series of 2014,
to serve as venue for discussion and resolution of issues, review of current
techniques/methodologies, and recommendation of policies and workable schemes
towards the improvement of health and nutrition and other related statistics.

F. Low disclosure risk - refers to risk that released records can be linked to specific
respondents are kept low

G. Microdata - refers to unit-level data obtained from sample surveys, censuses, and
administrative systems

H. Metadata - refers to a set of data that describes and gives information about other
data

I. Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Board - refers to the highest policy-making

body on statistical matters which is created through RA 10625 or the Philippine
Statistical Act of 2013

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J. Processing - refers to any operation or any set of operations performed upon
personal information including, but not limited to, the collection, recording,
organization, storage, updating or modification, retrieval, consultation, use,
consolidation, blocking, erasure or destruction of data.

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K. Public Use Files (PUF) refers to
data files characterized by a low disclosure risk
or anonymized data. They are prepared and shared to provide access to the full
coverage of the data for maximum utilization of data users.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

A. All health, nutrition, and demographic-related administrative and survey data

generated using public funds shall be considered public records, and be made
available and accessible to the public with due consideration to data privacy and
other relevant laws.

B. The IACHNS shall review and recommend to the PSA Board the rules and other
appropriate measures, statistical policies, and mechanisms in making all health,
nutrition, and demographic-related public records available and accessible to the
public.

SPECIFIC GUIDELINES

A. The TACHNS shall establish a technical working group (TWG) which shall be
composed, at the minimum, of technical representatives from PSA and DOH. The
number of members of the TWG may be increased or decreased, as may be deemed
necessary by the IACHNS. The TWG shall be known as the TWG on Health,
Nutrition, and Demographic-related Data (TWG-HNDD). Its primary function is to
determine all publicly funded health, nutrition, and demographic-related
administrative and survey data (HNDASD), and review these data in terms of
adherence to statistical standards, its metadata, and relevance to policy making,
including the monitoring of the UHC Act. The TWG will recommend to the
TACHNS the reviewed list of HNDASD.

B. The IACHNS shall review the list of HNDASD as recommended by the TWG-
HNDD. The IACHNS shall conduct a consultation involving all data sources to
validate and/or confirm the list and inform them that the data should be translated
into a publishable and anonymized public use file (PUF) that conforms to data
privacy guidelines to protect the individual respondents to the survey or any
administrative data. It shall then endorse to the PSA Board a Resolution “Approving
the List of Health, Nutrition, and Demographic-related Administrative and Survey
Data (HNDASD) and Enjoining All Government Agencies and Instrumentalities to
Make Available and Accessible to the Public all HNDASD Generated Through
Government Funds, and its Metadata, with Due Consideration to Data Privacy and
Other Relevant Rules.”

C. The approved list of public HNDASD shall be updated annually or as may be

deemed necessary.

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 D. All agencies responsible for the generation of the covered public data shall make
available to the general public, the government, and entities commissioned by
government, all microdata and metadata in PUF, and in either electronic format, or
hard copies. These shall be placed in the official websites of the respective agency,
and properly linked to the PSA and DOH websites for greater public accessibility.

E. The covered public data shall be made available to the public free of charge
(excluding the reproduction cost). The process of requesting the public data must
be in accordance with the processes and provisions under the EO No. 2 or the FOI
EO.

F. Any person/entity who requests a copy of public records may be required to

shoulder the reproduction and copying costs.

G. All documents, notes, papers, records, research, and/or other publications in any
materials included in the covered public record shall be protected by copyright laws,
vested exclusively on the creator of the material, and cited accordingly as “(Title of
Public Record, Source, and Date of Publication).”

VII. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

A. TWG on Health, Nutrition, and Demographic-related Data (DOH and PSA)

shall:

1. Coordinate with other NGAs to identify the health, nutrition, and demographic-
related administrative and survey data and information from existing monitoring
systems, databases, and other official sources.
2. Develop a list of sources for all the publicly funded health, nutrition, and
demographic-related administrative and survey data that shall be considered public
records, and shall be made readily available and accessible to the public.
3. Review the data as to adherence to statistical standards, its metadata, and relevance
to policy making including the monitoring of the UHC Act.
4. Endorse to the IACHNS the list of reviewed public data.
5. Annually or as may be deemed necessary, review and update the list of public
records to be recommended to the IACHNS and, if
before uploading to the respective official websites.
necessary, to the PSA Board,

6. Develop, if necessary, supplemental policy and/or guidelines on data access relative

to the covered public data.

B. IACHNS shall:
1.Review the list provided by the TWG-HNDD and provide its recommendations to
the PSA Board.
2. Recommend proposals to the PSA Board on the appropriate guidelines and
mechanisms on accessing and managing the publicly available data for use in policy
making, including the monitoring of the UHC Act.

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3. Resolve issues and challenges that may arise relative to the access and management
of the public data/records.

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 4. Create a TWG, as may be necessary, to review and update all health, nutrition, and
demographic-related administrative and survey data generated using public funds
such as these are made available and accessible for public use.

C. PSA Board shall issue a resolution approving the list of HNDASD and enjoining
all government agencies and instrumentalities to make this available and accessible
to the public with due consideration to data privacy law and in accordance with
policies, guidelines, and protocols that are relevant to the availability and
accessibility of public records.

D. Other NGAs shall:

1. Ensure that the public records identified are generated in PUF, and in either
electronic format, or hard copies; and are readily made available for the access of
the general public, other NGAs, and other entities.
2. Facilitate the requests of individuals/entities on accessing the covered public
records.

VIIL OPERATIONAL RESOURCES

PSA and DOH shall jointly mobilize resources for the operationalization of this Order
subject to the usual government accounting rules and regulations.

IX. PENALTY CLAUSE

Individuals, entities, or agencies who fail to comply with the provisions of this Order
shall be penalized according to the Data Privacy Act of 2012, FOI EQ, and other related
laws.

A Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) may be executed between PSA and DOH, or any
other Agency Data Source Agencies (ADS) to cover the rules on online access to data,
transfer of data from ADS to another agency, security of data and responsibilities of the
parties, to avoid unauthorized collection, use, disclosure, or access to data.

REPEALING CLAUSE

All other issuances inconsistent with the provisions of this Order are hereby repealed/
rescinded and modified accordingly.

XI SEPARABILITY CLAUSE

If for any reason, any part or provision of this Order be declared invalid or
unconstitutional by any court of law or competent authority, those provisions shall not
affect the other provisions which shall remain in full force and effect.

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XIL EFFECTIVITY

This Order shall take effect fifteen (15) days from the date of its publication in the
Official Gazette or in any national newspaper of general circulation. Certified copies of
this Order shall be filed with the Office of the National Administrative Register of the
University of the Philippines Law Center.

CISCO/L. DUQUE 11
Secretary —
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CLAIRE DENNIS S. MAPA
Undersecretary and National Statistician and
Department of Health Civil-Registrar General
- = Philippine Statistics Authority