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POPCOM Undersecretary Dr.
Juan Antonio A. Perez III with UNFPA Philippines Representative Iori Kato at
the turnover of the State of World Population 2019 Report, entitled “Unfinished
Business: the pursuit of rights and choices for all”
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The year 2019 is unique as it marks two important
milestones in the field of sexual and reproductive health and reproductive
rights: 50 years since the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) began
operations globally, and 25 years since the landmark International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo where 179 governments agreed on a
call for all people to have access to comprehensive reproductive health care,
including voluntary family planning, and safe pregnancy and childbirth
services. UNFPA’s State of World Population Report 2019 traces advances
in reproductive health on the anniversaries of these two important milestones.
These two events—the launch of the first United
Nations agency dedicated to addressing population dynamics and the reproductive
health needs of the world’s people with Filipino national Rafael Salas as its
first Executive Director, and the declaration of a global commitment to sexual
and reproductive health and reproductive rights—have fundamentally shaped the
lives of women and families, and the societies in which they live, in the
decades that followed. The revolutionary
changes have been made in measurable and immeasurable, profound and trivial,
permanent and fleeting ways.
Activists, advocates, government agencies like the Philippine
Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) – which also celebrates its
50th anniversary this year - and UNFPA have jointly advanced the
transformations that ordinary citizens see around themselves today and have
helped tear down various and evolving social, economic and institutional
barriers that women and young people have faced in exercising their
reproductive rights over the past 50 years. As a result, more women today have
access to the information and services they need to decide for themselves
whether, when or how often to become pregnant.
Much has been achieved in the Philippines since 1969.
The average number of births per woman was 6.0 in 1973. Today it is 2.7[1], even
though the country has the highest total fertility rate in the ASEAN
region. In order to reach the national
target of 2.1 average number of births per woman under the Philippine
Development Plan (PDP), the Philippines needs to step up its efforts.
“UNFPA takes pride in having partnered with the
Philippines and witnessed together so many remarkable achievements together in
the areas of sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in the last
five decades. And yet, there should not
be complacency. Much more needs to be
done to empower those who are not yet able to enjoy their rights and whose
choices are still constrained,” says UNFPA Philippines Representative Iori
Kato.
According to the 2017 Philippines National Demographic
and Health Survey, about 17 percent of currently married women aged 15-49 have
expressed intention to space or limit their children but are not using any
method of family planning. Such
proportion of unmet need for family planning services is highest among
adolescents at 28 percent.
The fulfillment of sexual and reproductive health and
reproductive rights is key to reducing poverty in the country. The PDP
2017-2022 contains a specific chapter on Reaching for the Demographic Dividend;
this chapter emphasizes the fact that reducing fertility through increasing
access for young people to reproductive health information and services is a
necessary pre-condition for the demographic dividend to be realized.
The Philippine Government is a champion of the ICPD
and President Rodrigo R. Duterte is committed to ending the unmet need for
family planning, reflected in the recently revamped National Program on
Population and Family Planning (NPPFP) to accelerate the full implementation of
the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act.
“The Philippine
Government remains strong in its commitment to fulfill the promise of the
International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action, to
put people at the center of sustainable development and to pursue the
realization of every Filipino’s sexual and reproductive rights,” said Dr. Juan
Antonio A. Perez III,
Under-Secretary for Population and Development and Executive Director of
POPCOM.
To finish the unfinished business of the ICPD,
governments, activists and stakeholders will rally at the Nairobi Summit on
ICPD25 to be held on 12-14 November to sustain the gains made so far, and
fulfill the promise of the ICPD agenda. Most countries, including the
Philippines, need to build on the foundation of the past achievements to reach
those who have been left behind and make sexual and reproductive health and
rights a reality for all.
Facts and figures on the Philippines:
- Number of deaths of women from pregnancy-related causes per 100,000 live births: 121 in 1994; 114 in 2015 (SWOP, 2019)
- Modern contraceptive prevalence rate among currently-married women: 11 in 1973; 25 in 1993; 40 in 2017 (NDS, 1993; NDHS, 2017)
- Total fertility rate, or average number of births per women: 6.0 in 1973; 4.1 in 1993; 2.7 in 2017 (NDS, 1993; NDHS, 2017)
- Percent women 15-19 years old who have begun childbearing: 6.5 in 1993; 8.6 in 2017 (NDS, 1993; NDHS, 2017)
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