Government faces shortage of contraceptives for the poor

JAKARTA (JP): The government called on Friday for more international aid to fulfill the need for free distribution of contraceptives to 8.25 million poor and needy couples next year.

In a meeting between donors facilitated by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) on Friday, the National Family Planning Board (BKKBN) chairwoman Khofifah Indar Parawansa revealed that the current stock of 50.45 million contraceptives will run out at the end of the year.

Indonesia needs an average of 85.47 million contraceptive devices annually.

Khofifah said poor couples will make up 35 percent of those who require family planning services next year. One sixth of the needy will be new users.

"One of the main issues faced by the family planning program today is contraceptives availability for the poor. Due to limited finances, support from the government has been reduced. For this reason, we have been struggling to explore more resources to improve the quality of our services," she said.

She added the government is in need of US$19.8 million to support the procurement of free contraceptive pills, IUDs, implants and condoms for the poor next year.

The minister further said that the shortage of contraceptives would cause a setback, which would slow down the progress of national family planning and reproductive health programs.

As a result of the shortage, unplanned pregnancies will rise significantly, which in turn will trigger the hike in unwanted births, maternal mortality and induced abortion, she added.

The annual aid from donor countries has been gathered by UNFPA from, among others, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the European Commission. Khofifah said the assistance remains inadequate.

BKKBN's director of program policy coordination Ida Bagus Permana revealed in the meeting that the government is facing difficulties promoting the birth control program as reflected by the fact that less than 2 percent of the family planning participants are male.

"Now we're formulating measures to boost the number to between 4 percent and 6 percent by 2004," he said. (bby)