Abstract
The pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is one of the priorities of the Philippine Government being one of the signatories of the international covenant. Among the eight MDGs, family planning is identified as a subset of MDG number 5: Improved Maternal Health.
The practice of family planning has long been accepted as an important intervention that saves mothers’ lives. The University of the Philippines Population Institute-Guttmacher Institute1 study of 2009 estimates that about half of the annual maternal deaths in the country could have been prevented if access to contraceptives was improved.
The 2008 National Health Demographic Survey (NDHS) results showed that only 34 percent of the total market of married women of reproductive age, the equivalent of 4.3 million users, was being supplied with modern family planning methods. Another 39 percent, around 5.2 million women, either use traditional methods or have unmet need for family planning products. Combining current users of modern family planning methods, users of traditional methods and non-users who do not want to be pregnant, the total potential market for modern family planning methods could expand to comprise as much as 73 percent of MWRAs.
The same survey showed that the contraceptive prevalence rate stood at 34 percent, with pills and injectables being the family planning method of choice at 15.7 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively in the overall method mix.
There may be a number of reasons for the persistently high percentage of family planning unmet need. First, many of those who can benefit from contraceptive care do not take advantage of free products due to limited information. Second, family planning products and services may not be easily available and accessible to those who are aware of the benefits. Third, family planning products and services may not be affordable for those who want to use them considering that the cost of transportation to access the family planning supply is more costly than the product. Finally, the government, which has the potential to increase awareness and help provide products and services to meet the need, has limitations.
All these point to the need to organize the provision of contraceptive supplies in the local markets across the country.