Firm says RP a good market for contraceptives

Despite the Roman Catholic Church’s strong opposition to contraceptives, executives of a pharmaceutical firm said the Philippines remains a good market for artificial methods of family planning.

Francesca Ballmer, general manager of Organon Philippines Inc., said Filipino women stay away from contraceptives, but not just because of religious belief.

"We fully respect the stand of the Catholic Church. However, our opinion is that all Filipinos should have full informed choice and make their own decision," she said during the re-launching of Organon’s oral contraceptive pill, which contains two hormones: 150 micrograms desogestrel and 30 micrograms ethinylestradiol.

Each "strip" contains 28 pills, and a woman can start taking one a day at the start of her menstrual cycle.

Ballmer said that based on previous surveys, Filipino women are kept from adopting family planning methods because of "lack of information (on) and access" to contraceptives.

The 2003 National Demographic Health Survey showed that only 51 percent of married women aged 15 to 49 were not using contraceptives. But among those using contraceptives, pills accounted for 13 percent followed by female sterilization with 11 percent.

Ballmer said Organon had decided to adjust the price of its contraceptive pill as part of its "corporate responsibility" to support the government’s family planning program "by providing more choices and educational programs for the public and primary health care providers."

Organon’s oral contraceptive has been in the Philippines for two decades but the company decided to lower the contraceptive pill’s price from P250 to P75 per strip to assist women who want to plan their families.

The Philippines faces a possible shortage in contraceptives because the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is set to completely stop donating contraceptives by 2007.

USAID had been supporting the Philippines’ family planning program for the past 30 years before deciding to stop the flow of donations.

Dr. Sylvia Santos, Organon’s medical adviser, said "there is a big need for contraception" in the Philippines because of its ballooning population, with two million babies born every year.

She said Organon’s pill is not "abortifacient" because it increases the thickness of the cervical mucus, preventing the entry of sperm into the uterus.

Santos said Organon’s pill has no significant side effects on the body and even helps normalize menstruation.

"But this is a prescription drug. We don’t advise women to just go to the drug stores and buy this. They have to first see their doctors," she said.