1. What do you think are the reasons of high unmet need of FP in the Philippines?
I think that the main driving factor here is the lack of education on effective family planning (FP) methods for women of reproductive age. Putting myself in the shoes of these women, I imagine them expressing, “I want to limit my giving birth, but I do not use any FP methods simply because I am unaware of what these are exactly.” If there are women that are aware, their knowledge on how to use them, why use them, and where to get them are only very limited. But now I’m thinking, “why have I not known about these FP methods in the first place?” There may be several factors contributing to this, both on the part of the health care provider and the mother.
One study says that there are often missed opportunities during mothers’ clinical visits and that this contributes to low utilization of contraceptive methods in the Philippines (Nagai et al., 2019). “Missed opportunities” was defined as the healthcare provider failing to provide any FP counseling to the mother during her clinical visit. On the other hand, results from the 2011 Family Health Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA, 2012) suggested that the mothers’ age, socioeconomic status, and educational attainment correlated with the rate of unmet need for FP. They observed that as the age, socioeconomic status, and educational attainment increased, unmet need for FP decreased, meaning women who were generally older, “non-poor”, or had attended college acknowledged the need for using FP methods if they wanted to properly space or limit births. These coincide with the results of a study done on high unmet need for FP in Southern Ethiopia (Shifa & Kondale, 2014) which found that the participant’s age, education, husband’s occupation, and having a discussion about family planning were independent predictors of unmet need for FP.
While these results do not claim that missed opportunities, a woman’s age, socioeconomic status, and educational attainment are direct reasons for the high unmet need of FP in the Philippines, they still somehow give us a better context as to why rates of unmet need for FP are high in the Philippines.
2. What are ways you can suggest to increase the practice of FP in the country? Give at least 1-2 suggestions.
If we want to decrease the high unmet need for FP in the Philippines, both the health care provider and the patient should exert efforts to increase the utilization of effective FP methods. Here, I am not suggesting new ways to help increase the practice of FP, instead, I am reiterating where different groups of people can improve to help our mothers be more inclined to use FP methods.
Starting by reiterating the roles of community health nurses, effective health education and better information dissemination may help clients be more informed about the various FP methods available in their local health centers. This should not be randomly done as well. Focusing on areas with high rates of unmet need for FP should be a priority if we want to increase the practice of FP in the country. Quite similarly, I also think that health care providers, especially OB-GYNs should conduct FP counseling with every client they face to reduce instances of “missed opportunities” as observed by Nagai et al. (2019).
After health education, women/mothers must now be encouraged to discuss FP methods with their partners. It may be difficult to be the one to decide which method will be best suited for her situation, hence, the right support from the people that matter to her most, especially from her partner can significantly help the mother get the determination and will she needs to effectively apply the chosen FP method in her life.
Overall, I believe in the journey of practicing family planning, the health care provider has the most significant role before the mother decides as they have the responsibility to properly inform the mother, while her partner has the most significant role for when the mother finally starts using her chosen method as they will both need deep patience and understanding if they want to properly practice family planning.
References
Nagai, M., Bellizzi, S., Murray, J., Kitong, J., Cabral, E.I., & Sobel, H.L. (2019). Opportunities lost: Barriers to increasing the use of effective contraception in the Philippines. PLoS ONE 14(7). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218187
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). (2012, May 25). Unmet Need for Family Planning Remains High (Results from the 2011 Family Health Survey). https://psa.gov.ph/content/unmet-need-family-planning-remains-high-results-2011-family-health-survey
Shifa, G.T., & Kondale, M. (2014). High Unmet Need for Family Planning and Factors Contributing to it in Southern Ethiopia: A Community Based Cross-Sectional Study. Global Journal of Medical Research: K Interdisciplinary, 14(4), 21-32. https://globaljournals.org/GJMR_Volume14/4-High-Unmet-Need-for-Family-Planning.pdf