Abstract
Frequent pregnancies result in the death of 60,000 mothers and children each year in the Philippines. Pregnancy and delivery complications comprise the 6th leading cause of death of women of childbearing age. 63% of women are considered to be at high health risk. They include women who are younger than 20 years of age or older than 35 years of age, delivered the last child within the last 15 months, have already had at least 4 deliveries, or suffer from a medical condition which contraindicates pregnancy. In fact, 50% of pregnant women in the Philippines have anemia and 45% suffer from malnutrition. Thus, the Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) saw a need to start the Philippine Family Planning Program (PFPP) in the early 1990s to reduce pregnancy related risks to women, particularly poor women, and to protect their children and their right to health. It is a health intervention program rather than a population control program. PFPP encourages birth spacing because it takes a woman 2 years to completely recover from childbirth, which results in a loss of 500 cu. cm of blood and large amounts of calcium, iron, and vitamins A and D. It offers couples advise on how to safely and correctly use natural and artificial birth control methods. The choice of methods is solely the decision of the spouses. Likewise, the choice to use or not to use family planning is theirs and is based on their moral convictions and religious beliefs. the DOH Technical Secretariat is developing guidelines and coordinating policy for PFPP. It is also addressing problems such as inadequate training of family planning workers. PFPP has the ingredients for success: the support of President Ramos and increased government and international funding.

MeSH
Asia; Asia, Southeastern; Birth Intervals; Birth Rate; Demography; Developing Countries; Disease; Evaluation Studies; Family Planning Services; Fertility; Health Planning; Infant Mortality; Maternal Mortality; Mortality; Nutrition Disorders; Organization and Administration; Philippines; Population; Population Dynamics; Pregnancy Complications; Reproduction; Women

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