Manila fears post-pandemic baby boom

Manila fears post-pandemic baby boom

Family planning stepped up in country where 30% of pregnancies are unplanned

A health worker from Likhaan, a local NGO, shows contraceptive pills to women during a family planning lecture at a reproductive health clinic in Tondo, metro Manila. (Reuters File Photo)
A health worker from Likhaan, a local NGO, shows contraceptive pills to women during a family planning lecture at a reproductive health clinic in Tondo, metro Manila. (Reuters File Photo)

MANILA: The Philippines has intensified its family-planning programmes amid concern that the coronavirus outbreak could result in a population boom.

“We saw in the past, during the lifetimes of our parents or grandparents, the significant increase in birth rates after a major adverse event. This is the reason why family planning is even more important,” said Juan Antonio Perez, head of the Commission on Population Development, in a statement released by Bayer Philippines Inc, which is supporting the commission’s programme.

The Philippines, where 86% of the population is Roman Catholic, is home to 108.7 million people, the second most in Southeast Asia after Indonesia.

Family-planning programmes in the Philippines target communities vulnerable to further deterioration due to unplanned pregnancies. Nearly a third of a typical Filipino family budget is used up for the cost of pregnancy, of which three out of every 10 are unplanned.

“Today, it is more cumbersome to set an appointment with a doctor and go to a clinic,” said Perez. “But even in this pandemic, health services like family planning should continue because life goes on.”

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