Condom, pill shortage risks Philippine birth control

MANILA (Reuters) - Efforts to slow the Philippines' rapidly-growing birth rate will fail unless the central government shrugs off religious pressure and provides funding for condoms and pills, health experts warned on Wednesday.

Home to an estimated 89 million people, the largely Catholic country has one of the fastest-growing populations in Asia with around 2 million babies born every year.

The government has estimated that the number of Filipinos will swell to 142 million by 2040, even if the population growth rate eventually falls to around 1 percent from 2.34 percent at the last census in 2000.

But experts said the growth rate could shoot up if President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a devout Catholic, does not release funding for artificial contraception when supplies from U.S. government agency USAID run out.

"This is a very serious concern nationally, as well as regionally," said Benjamin de Leon, president of The Forum for Family Planning & Development (FFPD), at a news conference to highlight World Population Day.

"If there are no contraception supplies in the market I believe there will be more abortions."

Successive governments have shied away from widely supplying contraceptives or teaching birth control in Philippine schools for fear of triggering the wrath of the country's Catholic bishops, who can make or break an administration.

Arroyo, a mother of three, has consistently emphasized natural family planning over artificial methods since coming to power in 2001 and government booklets on responsible parenting make no mention of condoms, pills or intra-uterine devices.

PRIVATE CLINICS

While the rich are able to avail of artificial birth control in private clinics, the poor have been reliant on USAID, which has been the biggest supplier of contraceptives in the Philippines for the past 30 years.

But USAID has started phasing out supplies and plans to end the rest of its contraceptive donation program by the end of next year. The agency has said previously the phase-out was in line with Manila's goal of self-reliance in family planning.

"We have stock outages in many, many areas," said Alberto Romualdez, a former health secretary and currently vice-president of FFPD.

Romualdez said the annual population growth rate could go above 2.5 percent if the government does not plug the gap left by USAID.

"Our poor are growing in numbers and the rich are not. All the problems that go with poverty will increase if we do not pay attention to the family planning needs of the lowest 20 percent," he said.

The Commission on Population, the state agency in charge of birth control, said the central government would look at alternatives to USAID.

The poorest 20 percent of Filipino women have an average of 6-7 children each compared with two for the richest 20 percent.

To deal with the financial and emotional strain of unwanted pregnancy, around half a million women are estimated to have abortions each year despite the procedure being illegal and strictly taboo in the overwhelmingly Catholic country.