The Department of Health (DOH) cited some gains in making family planning methods more accessible to Filipinos—ten years after the passage of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 or the RH law.
More Filipinos have used family planning methods based on the 2022 National Demographic Survey, said DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, saying there is
“huge improvement” in the implementation of family planning since the law was enacted in 2012.
“Tumaas ng husto ang contraceptive prevalence rate (The contraceptive prevalence rate increased) by as much as almost 50 percent,” she said on Tuesday, Dec. 13.
“Dati nung (In) 2012, it was just around 20 plus percent. Ngayon (Now), we are at that level, where it is almost 50 percent already. That is a big accomplishment,” she added.
Vergeire said the most common family planning method is still the use of contraceptive pills.
“Pero tumataas na din ang longer term methods katulad ng implants, IUD, vasectomy para sa mga lalaki, and bilateral tubal ligation for women (But the use of longer term methods such as implants, IUD, vasectomy for men, and bilateral tubal ligation for women are also rising),” she also noted.
The Health official said that there are still challenges in ensuring the accessibility of these family planning methods, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“During the time of the pandemic, nagkaroon tayo ng FP ayuda express kung saan dinadala talaga natin sa doorsteps ng ating mga kababayan yung kanilang mga kailangan na family planning commodities (we have the FP ayuda express where we actually bring the necessary family planning commodities to the doorsteps of our citizens),” she said.
“Nagkaroon din tayo ng (We also have) teleconsultations for family planning because we know that our women cannot really go to the facilities because of the lockdown,” she added.
Vergeire assured the local government units (LGUs) that the DOH will continue to help them in implementing the family planning program.
“ DOH commits that we will still centrally procure the commodities to be able to provide to those high gap areas and low capacity areas,” she said.
“We will not neglect those in areas whose LGUs cannot consistently provide these commodities,” she added.