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What do you think are the reasons of high unmet need of FP in the Philippines?
In understanding the high unmet need for Family Planning in the Philippines, it is important to understand the historical and cultural context of the country. The Philippines is a developing country that is still dominated by conservative families due to the significant influence of religion in the country. Because of this, discussions about reproductive health remain taboo in most families due to strong dogmatic and religious beliefs. The impact of the Catholic church in terms of policy-making in the country is also apparent as evidenced from the previous forum regarding the RH law.
This is consistent with the study conducted by Casterline et al., (1997) which stated that the inaccurate measurement of fertility preferences and contraceptive practice is one of the factors that contribute to the prevalence of high unmet need for family planning in the country. Aside from this, other factors discussed in the study include, weakly held fertility preferences, women perceiving themselves to be at low risk of conceiving, and excessive costs of contraception.
All of these factors can be tied to the historical and cultural context of the country as explained earlier. Because if we can create a culture change that fosters the importance of reproductive health and family planning and its significant impact on healthy family outcomes, then this makes the policy-making much easier (characterized by less backlash and opposition from the groups that are against RH laws) which can then translate to increased accessibility and lower costs of contraceptives and reproductive health services.
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What are ways you can suggest to increase the practice of FP in the country? Give least 1-2 suggestions.
In 2017, the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) identified Family Planning as a pivotal intervention in realizing the country’s demographic dividend and also in meeting its Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Although this is a huge leap in terms of recognizing the factors that hold us from progress and development, the trend of contraceptive use in the country remains stagnantly slow at an alarming rate. With this, there are a few suggestions that I think can improve the trend and engagement of Filipino families in Family Planning:
- Family Planning Counselor in every Health Center
In a study conducted by Nagai et al., (2019), of 1664 cumulative clinic visits reported by women in the previous year, 72.6% had a missed opportunity to receive family planning counseling at any visit regardless of level of facility, with 83.7% having a missed counseling opportunity on the day of the interview. This is harmful because women have the right to the accessible and safe use of contraceptive methods. This is not only a reproductive concern but is a basic health right that must be provided to all women of childbearing age regardless of social status and beliefs.
Moreover, I believe that true culture change begins at the community level. This can be achieved by having someone knowledgeable in terms of various family planning methods, while at the same time being responsive to the needs of the local community. For example, family planning counselors can conduct one-on-one education with women of childbearing age. This does not only make family planning more accessible but also removes the stigma surrounding reproductive health.
- Improved Family Planning Survey and Demographic Analysis
Based on the publication of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the latest Family Planning Survey we had was in 2005 which is almost 17 years ago. The latest survey we had was the Family Health Survey in 2011, but the study is not completely nuanced to family planning. This is harmful because the data we have are supposed to support policymaking and the effective delivery of programs. Improving the family planning survey helps us understand the needs of certain communities and respond to these needs in a unique and specified manner, such as capacity building, information drives, minimizing violence, etc., rather than a general approach.
- More accessible use of Modern Contraceptive Methods
In a study conducted by Marquez et al., (2017), about one in every three women who are currently using a contraceptive method rely on traditional contraceptive methods, a level that has remained nearly constant over the past 10 years. This is bad because the contraceptive failure rates are highest for traditional methods such as withdrawal and periodic abstinence as compared to longer-acting modern contraceptive methods such as implants, IUDs, and injectables having the lowest failure rates.
To address the growing concern regarding poor family planning methods in the country, we have to make modern contraceptive methods more accessible and available especially to the rural communities where traditional methods are still the dominant practice.
REFERENCES:
Baccay, K.B. (2020). Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning [PowerPoint Slides]. University of the Philippines Manila Virtual Learning Environment: https://vle.upm.edu.ph/.
Casterline, J. B., Perez, A. E., & Biddlecom, A. E. (1997). Factors underlying unmet need for family planning in the Philippines. Studies in Family Planning, 28(3), 173–191. https://doi.org/10.2307/2137886.
Marquez, M., Kabamalan, M., & Laguna, E. (2017). Ten Years of Traditional Contraceptive Method Use in the Philippines: Continuity and Change. https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/WP130/WP130.pdf.
Nagai, M., Bellizzi, S., Murray, J., Kitong, J., Cabral, E., & Sobel, H. (2019). Opportunities lost: Barriers to increasing the use of effective contraception in the Philippines. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0218187.
Polis, C. B., S. E. K. Bradley, A. Bankole, T. Onda, T. N. Coft, and S. Singh. 2016. Contraceptive Failure Rates in the Developing World: An Analysis of Demographic and Health Survey Data in 43 Countries. http://www.guttmacher.org/report/contraceptive-failure-rates-in-developing-world.