Demand for contraceptives rising — report

The private sector’s demand for contraceptives has increased by almost 20 percent over the past 10 years, an expert said yesterday.

Dr. Aurora Perez, a professor at the University of the Philippines’ Population Institute (UPPI), said condoms and contraceptive pills were most in demand by the private sector from 1993 to 2003.

"The private sector share in condoms increased from 41 percent to 60 percent, while its share in pills increased from 23 percent to 39 percent," she said in a research dissemination forum for the 2003 National Demographic Survey.

Pharmacies are the most popular source for the contraceptives, she added.

President Arroyo refuses to allow the government to procure or distribute contraceptives, apparently in deference to the Roman Catholic Church’s strong stand against artificial methods or contraception.

Demographers have warned that the population in the Philippines, now pegged at 85 million, is increasing by almost two million each year.

Despite the demographers’ warnings, the President leaves it to the local government units to purchase their own supply of contraceptives.

According to Socorro Abejo, a division chief of the National Statistics Office, the 1970s saw a "substantial increase" in contraceptive use in the country.

Abejo said this was because of the strong commitment of the government then to population management.

In 1973, the prevalence rate of traditional and modern methods in the Philippines was 17.4 percent while in 2003, it was 48.9 percent. But "in the last 10 years, (there was an) increasing level of all modern methods, except for sterilization," Abejo said.