Pinoys have wider choice of family planning 'menu'

Filipinos now have a wider choice of their family planning "menu" through the development and introduction of new and modern contraceptive methods that have been found to be highly effective.

These include the newly developed natural family planning called the " TwoDay method, the contraceptive patch and the minipill or the progestin only pill. The contraceptive patch and the progestin only pill have been introduced in the Philippine market with the TwoDay method undergoing final testing.

Experts are optimistic these new methods would go a long way in satisfying the unmet needs of couples who want to space their children or limit the size of their families. They explained that these methods are easier to use and have minimal side effects.

Unmet need is defined as the percentage of currently married women who either do not want any more children or want to wait before having their next birth but are not using any family planning method. The 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey reports that the total unmet need of the country is 17 percent. Of the total, 8 percent is for the limiting and the remaining 9 percent is for birth spacing.

The new methods, experts agree, are welcome addition by widening the choice in the family planning menu. One of the new methods called the TwoDay method is a modern natural family planning method. It provides a simpler approach to natural family planning. This method is based on the fact that a woman's cervical secretions are the key to fertility. Without these secretions the sperms have difficulty travelling and fertilizing the egg.

To use the TwoDay method, a woman should watch or monitor her cervical secretions everyday. If a woman has noticed any kind of secretion, then she must consider herself fertile and avoid unprotected sex. On the other hand, the contraceptive patch is a square patch that looks like a light brown bandage. The patch continuously releases a combination of progestin and estrogen through the skin into the bloodstream. The woman can use the patch anywhere on the body where it has a muscle like buttocks, lower abdomen, upper outer arm but not the breasts.

Meanwhile, the minipill is a progestin only pill that offers a viable alternative particularly for women who breastfeed, smoke and are over 35 years old who are risks of blood clots as well as those prone to migraine.- Jasmin R. Uy