"The population management program is turning its emphasis to helping couples achieve the size of the family they want," Tobias told The STAR. "And we help couples who aspire for this but do not have the information nor the financial capacity to do it."
He said the UNPF had allotted the $30-million financial assistance from bilateral and multilateral sources to be channeled to the three sub-programs on reproductive health, population and development strategies, and advocacy from 2000 to 2004.
Under the UNFPA’s 5th Country Program Assistance, the Philippines aims to attain a population that would be "in harmony" with available resources and environmental conditions to reduce incidence of poverty, he added.
Osias said the quality of life of all Filipinos could be improved through a better reproductive health program and the UNFP’s renewed support to population management.
Since reproductive health is tops on its agenda, Popcom would focus on family planning, maternal care, prevention of reproductive tract infections, sexually-transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS, and providing sexual education, he added.
Osias said the program would not only be "gender sensitive" but also involve men in its implementation, and reach out to teenagers who should be informed and counseled about sex.
Population and development strategies would be conducive to government policies on population and development, and improve the dissemination of information on the government’s population program, he added.
Osias said the Popcom will intensify the giving out of information on reproductive health and rights, male environment, gender equality, and adolescent reproductive health.
The UNFP continues to support Popcom’s goal of preventing teenage pregnancies and reducing infant and maternal deaths, and to balance the distribution of population and economic activities, he added.
Osias said the Philippines has one of the fastest growing populations in the world, with an annual population growth of 2.3 percent or about 1.6 million babies a year.
Three babies are born every minute in the Philippines and many couples have still no access to family planning methods, while many discontinue family planning after sometime, he added.
Osias said only 46.5 percent of women of child-bearing age use family planning methods, while a large number of men do not take part in the practice.
Popcom has noted a decline in infant deaths from 43 per 1,000 live births in the 1980s to 35 in 1998, and a drop in the number of maternal deaths from 209 per 100,000 women in 1993 to 172 in 1998, he added.
Osias said inadequate parental and delivery care and unsafe abortions continue to threaten the health of women and their children.
Hospital data show about 25 abortions are undertaken by 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44, he added.
Osias said more teenagers and young adults engage in sex without knowing how to prevent pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases.
Demographic studies show that 18 percent of the youth are sexually active, he added.