Government faces shortage of contraceptives for the poor
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)