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17 December 2007,
With an annual investment of only US$4/woman aged 15-49 years
old, the government can help ensure the availability of reliable
family planning and reproductive health (RH) services for
safe pregnancy, childbirths and management of sexually transmitted
diseases, including HIV/AIDS, while the actual investment
made in 2005 was $2.68/woman at reproductive age. For a full
coverage of services to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals, the government needs to gradually increase the annual
investment to reach $212.3 million in 2015. The country’s
poorest districts should be given the priority for this investment.
“The overwhelmingly large amount of money to invest
is due to the large number of women at reproductive age, requiring
RH services. With the current national economy and the increasing
world oil price, alternatives in funding RH investment are
needed,” said Dr. Sri Moertiningsih Adioetomo, a professor
at the Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia and a
senior researcher at the Faculty’s Demographic Institute.
Dr. Adioetomo recently conducted a study on RH costing, using
the RH Costing Model computer programme developed in 2005
by Eva Weissman and Janeke Saltner of the United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA) New York. The UNFPA-commissioned study look into
the investment required to secure drugs and supplies for 33
RH interventions, including FP in line with the recommendation
of the World Health Organization. The findings, compiled into
a report titled Reproductive Health Costing 2005-2010, will
be used for advocacy to decision makers, legislators, development
and programme planners and donors as recommendation to improve
the country’s RH sector.
The existing data show that the country’s Reproductive
Health sector needs improvements to reduce maternal mortality
ratio currently at 307/100,000 live births and to increase
coverage of childbirth assisted by skilled birth attendants
and the percentage of deliveries that took place at health
facilities now at 66% and 39% respectively. On contraception,
the unmet need for contraceptive is at 9% and Contraceptive
Prevalence Rate (CPR) is only 57%. It is estimated that 11%
of maternal deaths is due to unsafe abortion and 71% of women
seeking abortion is married.
This study said that increased CPR would result in reduction
in the cost for ante natal care (pregnancy check), delivery
services and for Emergency Maternal Obstetric Care (EmOC)
and other cost related to reduction of births due to the increase
in contraceptive use. The explanation is that when CPR is
high, the number of pregnant women and delivery are decreasing,
so reducing the number of women in need for pregnancy check,
delivery and other emergency maternal obstetric care, and
new born care. At a broader scope, a high CPR lowers population
growth.
Previous studies and researches prove that a well-designed
RH programme directly contributes to reduction of maternal
death and improved health, which promote economic growth and
poverty eradication.
UNFPA Representative Dr. Zahidul Huque explained that FP and
RH information and services enable couples to space their
children and plan their family size. Now with better awareness,
more and more couples opt for fewer children, allowing families
to focus on improving nutritional intake, access to health
care and education and giving women the opportunity to focus
on economic empowerment and their own self development.
"With better health status, Indonesian women can develop
their full potential and contribute not just to the wellbeing
of their families but also to the national development efforts,”
he added.
For further information, please contact:
Maria Endah Hulupi
UNFPA Communications Officer
0812 1115 116
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