Family planning on the right track: Report

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

People's access to family planning and reproductive health in the country has been improving over the past decade, but their commitment to population issues have been on the decline, a government report says.

The country report, revealed by National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) chairwoman Sumarjati Arjoso on Friday, attributes the increase in people's awareness of family planning and the use of contraceptives among fertile couples to the broader access to family planning services.

Awareness of the family planning program has reached 96 percent of fertile couples, compared to 86.3 percent in 1994, while the number of users rose to 60.3 percent from 52.1 percent in 1994.

"Our campaign today on family planning is to create the quality family by 2015. We are sending medical workers and family planning counselors to the regions and building a clientele-based relation between (contraceptives) users and counselors," said Sumarjati.

The report spells out the national progress in implementing the International Conference of Population and Development (ICPD) Program of Action 1994-2004.

Indonesia joined 178 other countries in signing the ICPD in Cairo in 1994 and adopted the action plan.

The plan included universal access to education, primary health care and a full range of comprehensive reproductive health care services, reduction in infant, child and maternal mortality, and increased life expectancy.

On health care services, the action plan requires all countries to provide individuals with access to primary health system and reproductive health services by 2015.

Under the tenure of former president Soeharto, the use of force marked the implementation of family planning program.

After Soeharto stepped down in 1998, many couples quit the program, while in the wake of regional autonomy many local governments sacrificed family planning for revenue seeking program.

In a bid to reinvigorate the program, the government has now deployed almost 73,000 midwives and 31,000 family planning field workers to about 70,460 villages across the country.

There are almost 44,000 doctors stationed at clinics/hospitals, not to mention three million volunteers.

However, country representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Bernard Coquelin, suggested more assistance for local governments to improve the reproductive health service.

"A good access to the reproductive health service could reduce the maternal mortality ratio, which is still high in the country," he said.

The country's maternal mortality rate has declined from 397 per 100,000 live births in 1994 to 307 in 2004, but remains worse compared to Thailand, which has only 44 deaths per 100,000, the Philippines (200), Vietnam (130), Malaysia (41) and Singapore (30).

"Many pregnant women go to midwives to get examined in their pregnancy, but their delivery was assisted by traditional midwives," Sumarjati said. The reason why maternal mortality rate in the country remained high, she added.

Most traditional midwives cannot deal with hemorrhage, the most common cause of maternal death.