Friday, May 02, 2008 PopCom bats for natural family planning method
THE Commission on Population in Western Visayas has intensified the campaign to promote the most modern and latest techniques for married couples to engage in natural family planning (NFP) method in the light of depleting resources.
Popcom Regional Director Vicente Molejona in a statement said the present state of population growth, which stands at 2.34 on the national level given its present resources, prompted them to aggressively campaign for NFP.
A circular of the Department of Health decrees that May of every year is declared as the Natural Family Planning month, Molejona said in a statement.
He also hoped that the Bacolod media community would be one with them in promoting NFP to political leaders, private concerns, interfaith groups and non-government organizations.
In particular, Molejona is urging the Bacolod media community to conduct press conferences, guestings or invite experts and practitioners for media coverage.
City Population Development Office (CPDO) head Tonette Tejario explained that while the latest population census had not been revealed publicly by her office, "it is now close to half a million. Inland migration is among the most difficult statistics to determine."
"More than half of Bacolod's population, estimated to be (around) 57 to 58 percent, are women. This has nothing to do with the so-called 'women power' but this means more than half of the population can get pregnant," Tejario explained.
Tejario added: "More than half of women population are of the marriageable and child bearing reproductive age (Macra), majority of whom are the adolescents who have experienced or experiencing pre-marital sex."
CPDO is presently preparing the data for unwanted pregnancies born out of pre-marital sex, which add up to population and destroys adolescent psychological makeup, she added.
In keeping with May as the NFP month, CPDO is urging the media community to play an effective role in disseminating the essence of family planning, especially natural method. (Gil Alfredo Severino)
