BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Officials of the Population Commission in Cagayan Valley said there is a need for more workers who will closely monitor and serve the unmet needs of couples under the Family Planning Program.
Herita Macarubbo, POPCOM assistant regional director, said they have already submitted the proposal to concerned agencies for appropriate approval and action.
“These workers will be oriented so that they can conduct house-to-house visits to couples to identify the source of their unmet needs. In his way, we can address their problems,” she said during the recent Adolescent Health and Development meeting.
She said the proposal is still ‘hanging’ as it needs a legal mandate to implement recruitment and hiring of additional workers.
Macarubbo also expressed optimism on the lifting of the ban on the distribution and use of contraceptives purchased by the Department of Health to boost the family planning program in the country.
POPCOM data showed that there are still 371 individuals and couples with unmet needs in Cagayan Valley for 2017 which is distributed as such: Cagayan – 140, Isabela – 109, Nueva Vizcaya – 15, Quirino – 45, Ilagan City – 1, Cauayan City – 30 and Santiago City – 31.
POPCOM officials Nueva Vizcaya said most of the number of couples with unmet needs are concentrated in the upland villages in the province who are hardly reached and therefore needs to be attended closely by additional workers.
Unmet Need refers to couples and individuals who are fecund and sexually active, and report not wanting anymore children or wanting to delay the next pregnancy but are not using any Modern Family Planning method (method of contraception, natural or artificial).
This also includes couples and individuals who expressed their desire to shift from traditional method to modern family planning.
Macarubbo said these are the focus of the National Family Planning Program which is to provide modern contraceptives to more than 3.7 million women of reproductive age with family planning unmet needs belonging to the poorest 60 percent quintile from 2017 to 2020.
She said target is reduction of 25 percent of unmet need per year from 2017 to 2020.