Any contraceptive will do: Minister

DILI, East Timor: State Minister of Population/chairman of the National Family Planning Board Ida Bagus Oka said it was no longer necessary to debate which was the best contraceptive method as long as couples continued practicing family planning.

"The method of contraception need not be disputed, what's important is that we control births in the country," he said in Dili on Sunday, as quoted by Antara.

"We're not saying people can't have babies, that would violate human rights, we just want to regulate births," he said.

Family planning programs usually advocate the most effective contraceptives. Condom usage, for instance, is not as highly recommended as other family planning methods.

The Demography Institute of the University of Indonesia earlier recommended that couples use traditional methods in light of rising prices of all necessities.

The minister said a couple could refrain from intercourse during the woman's fertile period. Natural methods could be combined with the use of condoms, Ida Bagus Oka said, but noted that the use was only about 0.8 percent compared to other methods.

He stated that funds for contraceptives were enough to last to the end of the fiscal year which ends in April, citing assistance from the World Bank, the Asia Development Bank, Australia, Finland and United States, among others. The funds are for supplying free contraceptives to poor families.