PopCom scales up campaign on reproductive health

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Population (PopCom) is scaling up its education campaign about reproductive health, as it underscored the importance of informed choice in planning a family.

PopCom executive director Juan Antonio Perez III said the agency and its regional offices will be organizing various activities to “generate widespread attention about population and development (PopDev).”

Perez said this is in line with the observation of 2018 PopDev Week, which is intended to raise the awareness of families on the importance of planning their family.

PopDev emphasizes the importance of a family’s capacity to have the number, timing and spacing of children within the demands of responsible parenthood, especially amid today’s challenges of rising prices of basic needs and prevailing poverty. 

The activities will include health caravans, seminars, conferences and social media campaigns in the communities. 

The PopCom official noted that informed choice means women know about family planning methods, their side effects and what to do if they experience side effects, among others.

Informed choice also implies the availability of and access to family planning services. 

Perez added that “many Filipino women remain unable to exercise their right to informed choice with the high incidence of unplanned pregnancies.”

Based on the 2017 National Demographic and Health Survey, only about 73 percent of births were planned at the time of conception, while 16 percent were wanted but at a later time and 11 percent were not wanted at all. 

Unplanned pregnancies are significantly caused by poor access to modern methods of family planning, accounting for 40 percent. 

Perez said there is a need to involve men in family planning as “spousal communication on family planning affects the decision on whether to continue using a method.”

“With the power of informed choice, couples could freely decide what method will best suit them that will enable them to achieve their desired family size. With this, families will enjoy  opportune time with themselves,” Perez added.