Two children campaign to continue
Two children campaign to continue
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Boyolali, Central Java
Despite some progress, the government will continue to trudge on
with the family planning program known for its slogan "two
children are enough" in order to achieve zero population growth
in the fourth most populous country in the world.
The people have long since become familiar with the program
and its slogans but its results have fallen far short of the
goal.
The program carried out by the National Family Planning
Coordinating Board (BKKBN), succeeded in lowering the annual
growth rate to 1.49 percent in 2000 from 2.32 percent in 1970s.
Nevertheless, at the 2000 rate -- assumed to be unchanged now
-- four million newborn babies have to be clothed, fed and
educated annually.
"At first, (in the 1970s) BKKBN trained volunteers to promote
the program to persuade (productive) couples to have small, but
prosperous families," Sarsanto Sarwono, deputy chairman of the
Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association, said after the
inauguration of a Primary Clinical Training Center (P2KP) in
Boyolali, Central Java recently.
Despite the progress that has attracted many other developing
countries to learn from Indonesia, the number of people
participating in the program has not reached the target.
The average contraception usage rate in the archipelago,
according to the 2003 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey
(IDHS), was 60.3 percent.
To reach the zero population growth, contraceptive usage has
to reach at least 73 percent, or the total number of babies per
woman, must decrease to 2.2 from the current 2.6.
BKKBN has intensified its campaign to promote permanent
solutions such as vasectomy and tubectomy, as well as long-term
contraception such as intrauterine devices (IUDs) and hormone
implants. They are trying to discourage women from using short-
term solutions such as "the pill" or 3-month hormone injections.
Due to an almost total absence of awareness about the safety
of some of the long-term methods coupled with the desire by most
couples to eventually have babies, shorter term contraceptives
are still preferred.
BKKBN Chief Sumarjati Arjoso has conceded that more than 75
percent of couples using contraception have currently chosen
pills (25.8 percent) or the hormone injections (49.7 percent).
This is a sharp increase compared to a 1997 survey, when
people involved in the program using pills accounted for 30
percent and injections 39 percent from the total number.
"These methods require high self-discipline and continuous
supplies and thus have a higher drop-out rate as compared to
long-term ones," she said.
Boyolali regent Djaka Srijanta offered another way to increase
contraceptive use by encouraging husbands to participate actively
in the program.
According to BKKBN's 2003 data, only 0.6 percent of married
men of productive age in the country used condoms and 0.7 percent
have had a vasectomy.
"Vasectomy is safer and has no side-effects," said Srijanta,
who had his own operation years ago.
The family planning program, however, has been given much less
attention following the implementation of the regional autonomy
in January 2001, under which BKKBN is now controlled by regional
administrations.
Many regions are committed to promoting the programs but many
others have paid less attention to it.
The 2003 IDHS showed that 15 of 32 provinces had contraception
usage lower than 60 percent with the highest being 75.6 percent
in Yogyakarta and the lowest of 34.8 percent in East Nusa
Tenggara.
"Contraception usage in Boyolali stands at 79 percent.
However, we see family planning as imperative to decrease the
poverty level in the regency," said Srijanta.
As many as 158 of 410 regencies and municipalities have made
bylaws to continue implementing the family planning program while
the remaining 132 are still drafting theirs.