Saturday, November 25, 2006 Population office launches campaign for ‘natural’ family planning By Albert B. Lacanlale
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Commission on Population (Popcom) Central Luzon office will conduct a massive information campaign in the use of natural family planning (NFP) methods in Pampanga.
Rose Fortaleza, Popcom Central Luzon regional director, said Friday that the slated December 14 launch of the Responsible Parenting Movement (RPM) and NFP aims to effect a shift in the number of couples using natural methods from traditional - but ineffective -family planning schemes.
NFP methods include the following: Mucus Billings Method or Billings Ovulation Method (BOM); Thermometer or Basal Body Temperature; Sympto-Thermal Method; and Breastfeeding Method or Lactation Amenorrhea Method (LAM).
Fortaleza bared that in 2005, less than one percent of all married couples of child bearing age (21 to 35 years old) in Central Luzon use NFP, specifically the BOM and LAM.
She said aside from the traditional methods like “Rhythm Method” and “Withdrawal Method” couples of the age bracket are more likely to use artificial methods such as pills, intra-uterine device (IUD), condoms and sterilization in family planning.
However, Fortaleza said, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the Department of Health and PopCom to educate the public on the NFP methods.
Fortaleza said Malacañang’s order might have been partly due to government’s effort to promote affordable, or even cost-less methods to promote population control.
She added that, indirectly, the pull-out of support from the US Agency International Development (Usaid), which comes in the form of contraceptives like pills and condoms, may also have caused the need to promote NFP methods.
The PRM, Fortaleza said, is conceived to empower Filipino families through responsible parenting by making couples aware of their responsibilities as parents.
