What do you think are the reasons for the high unmet need for FP in the Philippines?
- There are various factors that contribute to the high unmet need for family planning in the Philippines. First, from a cultural and beliefs perspective, not many are open to premarital sex and about 83% of women maintain their virginity until marriage. As such, the use of contraceptives is deemed meaningless. Second, not many people are knowledgeable of the variety of family planning methods that are available in the Philippines or are ill-informed about family planning methods (e.g. considering withdrawal as a form of family planning) in general. Third, there may be a fear of the possible side effects that modern family planning methods can bring such as excessive bleeding, loss of device in the body, chemical toxicity as a result of prolonged use, etc. Lastly, the banning of the purchase of selected emergency contraceptives and the need for parental consent of minors to access contraceptives may act as a barrier and facilitator of teenage pregnancies.
What are ways you can suggest to increase the practice of FP in the country? Give at least 1 or 2 suggestions.
- A study conducted by Nagai et al showed that there has been a poor provision of counselling regarding family planning methods available in the Philippines, leading to a poor utilization rate and therefore high unmet needs. The study highlighted the need for ameliorated efforts within the healthcare system to include quality counselling on family planning as standard care provided to women. As such, it is important that health care professionals participate in available training and seminars that will help improve knowledge and skills to provide quality care to women. This not only attracts new people to start practising family planning methods but also retains current users as they begin to trust the health care system in supporting them. On the other hand, continuously improving the current Reproductive Health Law such that perceived barriers are minimised may also increase the utilization of Family Planning as more people can access these services.
Reference:
Nagai, M., Bellizzi, S., Murray, J., Kitong, J., Cabral, E. I., & Sobel, H. L. (n.d.). Opportunities lost: Barriers to increasing the use of effective contraception in the Philippines. PLOS ONE. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0218187#:~:text=The%20unmet%20need%20for%20family,to%2022%25%20%5B3%5D.