Contraceptive users down, birth control endangered

Contraceptive users down, birth control endangered

Sari P. Setiogi
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Contraceptive use has dropped 20 percent in Indonesia, a trend
that has sparked fears of a population explosion.

Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data reveals that Jakarta
headed the plunge with a 22.24 percent drop from the 71.72
percent of women of child bearing age who used contraception in
1997. West Java recorded a 21 percent decrease, 15 percent in
East Java, the country's most populous province, and 10 percent
in Bali, which has the country's lowest birth rate.

BPS released its latest welfare statistics in 1997, when 36
million people were registered as contraceptive users.

The secretary of the National Family Planning Coordinating
Board (BKKBN), Lalu Sudarmadi, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday
that the decline was caused by reasons ranging from financial
concerns to male attitudes.

"Contraceptives are no longer affordable to most poor people."

Lalu said poor people were reluctant to buy prescription
pills, which were free during the New Order regime that fell in
1998.

The other reason was the changing service of family planning,
Lalu said. From its inception in the early 1970s until 1997, the
national family planning program was aimed at encouraging the use
of contraceptives. During the period, women were forced to use
contraceptives.

Changes came in the twilight of the New Order, when the
government recognized a woman's right to decide.

Citing the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report, Lalu
said less than 2 percent of males participated in family planning
in Indonesia. The burden of contraceptive use was shouldered by
women.

BKKBN says the number of reproductive couples aged between 15
and 49 years now totals 36 million, or 16.74 percent of the
country's population.

It says the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR), or the number
of reproductive-aged women who are contraceptive users, is only
around 57.4 percent.

The BPS statistics show that 20 percent of those who did not
use contraceptives said they wanted to have children, 12 percent
said they were afraid of the side effects, 11 percent cited
medical reasons and 8 percent said their husbands forbade them.
The remainder cited, among other things, religion.

About 46 percent of those not using contraceptives said they
were not interested in the family planning program. Most already
had more than four children.