Learning from Thailand

Lowering the country’s birth rate depends to a large degree on the political will of the government to demonstrate the correlation between population management and economic development. Of great importance too is the down-to-earth brass tacks employed by the deliverers to make family planning an enjoyable, colorful exercise.

While attending the forum on population management sponsored by Philippines Inc. last week, I was reminded of the tack used by then the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement doctor, Juan Flavier, in introducing family planning methods to the rural folk. And that was a sense of humor that brought the house down wherever he went. For example, he compared the contraceptive bill to the ipil-ipil seeds that made chickens which fed on them not to become impregnated. And he created a jingle that listeners will remember 40 years later today: "Lindol man nang lindol, paguminom ng Lyndiol, walang lalabas na sanggol." (There may be earthquakes, but if a woman takes Lyndiol – a contraceptive pill – no baby will be born.) It’s just too bad that Dr. Flavier, who later became Health Secretary, and is now a senator, was prevented by circumstances to make family planning an overwhelming success in this country.

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Thoughts of Dr. Flavier were inspired by the presentation of Thai Senator Mechai Viravaidya showing how Thailand was able to bring down the country’s fertility rate from 3.1 to one percent and to .09 percent today and the population growth rate to around one per cent. Senator Viravaidya, who is chair of the Population and Community Development Association of Bangkok, had slides to show how family planning promotions were like picnics, with parents and children being taught the benefits of family planning, how vasectomies were performed like fun activities, how condoms were distributed freely. The idea behind the activities, he said, was that family planning was a wholesome activity, and that choosing methods was something to be proud of, not ashamed of.

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Secretary Dante Canlas of the National Economic and Development Authority confirmed the effectiveness of Thailand’s program. He said that under the leadership of Senator Mechai, Thailand was able "to make the demographic transition, a shift from a regime of high to low birth rate. As a result, Thailand was able to overcome a binding constraint on the sustained growth of income per person adjusted for inflation. Savings among households increased with a decline in family size, permitting families to invest in human and physical capital, a move that can be relied on to reduce profoundly the incidence of poverty."

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It’s interesting to note that in 1960, both the Philippines and Thailand had a population of 27 million. Today, Thailand has 63 million, and the Philippines, 80 million. Another country with a successful family planning program is Indonesia, which trimmed fertility rates by half during the period 1975 and 2000.

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Why Thailand and Indonesia’s population management programs were successful was explained by Theo Arnold, an economist and Ambassador of the Netherlands to the Philippines. He said there was "political will to implement an effective family planning program and to provide for uninterrupted adequate funding." Then the private sector supported in full force the government particularly in the rural areas. Third, because family planning "was linked with development by an approach of incentives, thereby ensuring improvement of the quality of life of the poor particularly in the rural areas." Lastly, "the religious leaders in this case of Buddhist and Muslim belief did not reject the principle of the separation of the State and the Church, meaning that the government has the responsibility to provide couples the choices of family planning methods, both natural and artificial and that it is the religious movements’ responsibility to guide the couples in choosing among the options."

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That is not to say that the Philippines has no population management program. Dr. Canlas said that there is aspiration for the success that Thailand has achieved. The annual population growth rate in the Philippines, at 2.3 percent, he said, is "rapid, hampering the ability of the private sector and of the government, at both the national and local levels, to overcome the illiteracy, sickness, and homelessness that afflict low-income families." He said in Year 2000, nearly 34 percent of all Philippine households were considered poor.

As a matter of principle, he said, the government’s population program respects the couple’s right to choose any family planning method "within the bounds of the constitution. To put in another way, the preference of one individual or group will not be permitted to dictate the government’s family planning program."

Canlas also said that the government population management program aims for improved and expanded access to reliable and scientifically based family planning methods. "The government is committed to a comprehensive set of policies for fighting poverty, including family planning and responsible parenthood."

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The forum was co-sponsored by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Philexport and the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, with support from USAID and the Philippine Center for Population and Development, Inc.

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My e-mail: [email protected]