Family Planning Program Stagnating

Jakarta (Antara) - The national family planning program has experienced a change following the weakening of the government's resolve to maintain it, according to National Family Planning and Population Board (BKKBN) spokesperson Ambar Rahayu. "The family planning program was once an integral part of the national development program, but now, it is no longer a priority because short-term programs other than family planning have become a top priority for regional governments," Ambar said here on Thursday. She pointed out that the national family planning and population program had stagnated over the past 10 years and had shown no improvement. "The total fertility rate remained at 2.6 percent, while the use of modern contraception edged up slowly by 0.5 percent in the past five years, from 57.4 percent in 2007 to 57.9 percent in 2012," she noted. Further, Ambar said the stagnant condition of the population and family planning program had impacted areas where its operational activities were on the decline. Therefore, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono expressed hope that the program would continue to be properly managed to prevent its continued stagnation. "The family planning and population program has been stagnant over the past 10 years, and therefore, we have to resolve this situation as part of our efforts to suppress the population growth rate," Laksono remarked here on Thursday. "It is necessary to revitalize the program as soon as possible because the results of the Indonesian health and demographic survey in 2012 (SDKI 2012) indicated that the number of people who failed to receive family planning services was very high, and the medium-term development target was far from being met," he went on. Laksono noted that efficient management of the family planning program had reached a state of urgency because the SDKI 2012 result had also indicated that the maternal mortality rate had increased sharply. (*)