Meeting Women's Contraceptive Needs in the Philippines

The ability to practice contraception is essential to protecting Filipino women's health and rights. Yet low levels of use have led to high levels of unintended pregnancy in the Philippines, for which women and society pay dearly—in lives, family well-being and public funds.

The desire to have children and raise them well leads many women and families to plan the timing and number of their births. Many women and couples, however, do not have the knowledge, tools and assistance they need to maintain their sexual and reproductive health and form the family they desire. Currently, more than half of all pregnancies in the Philippines are unintended—that is, they occur too soon, too close together or after a couple already has as many children as they want (Table 1). Consequently, many women give birth to more children than they want or can care for, and others turn to unsafe abortion. Maternal and infant mortality are unacceptably high, especially among disadvantaged women—those who are poor, live in rural areas or have little education.^1,2

Reproductive health care—including quality contraceptive services—enables women and couples to make choices about pregnancy, have healthy babies and care for their families. Full access to reproductive health care is crucial to fulfilling the Philippine government’s commitment to attaining the Millennium Development Goals, including improving maternal health, eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, improving educational attainment, reducing child mortality, and promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality.³ Expanding contraceptive use also saves money that can be used to promote economic development and improve health.

This issue brief aims to help policymakers chart a course toward better health and family well-being in the Philippines by highlighting the benefits of allocating resources to improving contraceptive services. Building on prior work4 and using national data to provide estimates for 2008 (see box), it uses women’s own reports of their childbearing goals to estimate the numbers of women in the Philippines who need contraceptive services and supplies. It also describes women’s current patterns of contraceptive use and the personal and financial costs that result from unmet need for contraception. The report then models alternative scenarios of contraceptive use to quantify the net benefits—to women and society— that could result from meeting the contraceptive needs of all women and couples at risk for unintended pregnancy in the Philippines.

A Guttmacher Institute publication - Research in Brief, 2009 Series, No. 1

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