Development and the Reproductive Health Bill

There are two dimensions to the population and development challenge

confronting the 15th Congress: In recognizing that population and poverty are

interrelated development problems, the first dimension of this challenge is

for Congress to be able to lay the foundations of a population control

program that would complement poverty alleviation efforts of the new

administration. The second dimension of this challenge is to lay the

foundations for an environmentally sustainable development program as the

current state of over-consumption has eaten away a large part of the finite

resources of this planet and thus leaves the future generations with an ever-

decreasing stock of natural wealth.

Let’s take a look at some facts:

In 2000, Philippines’ population was 76.5 million. By 2007, we reached 88.57

million. Since the last census, population growth has been at more than 2

per cent per year.

According to the 2006 Family Income and Expenditures Survey, 33% of the

population were below the poverty threshold. This means that in 2007, some

29M Filipinos were poor.

The National Census also projects that the country’s population will hit the

100M mark by 2014. Should there not be a major improvement in poverty

incidence, there would be some 33M poor Filipinos by 2014.

We are following the global trends as well. According to Laurie Mazur, the

largest generation, made up of some 3 billion people or almost half the

world’s population, is coming into child-bearing age. Contrary to the claims

of supporters of a demographic winter, today, around 50M Filipinos are well-

within the ages 15-49, the internationally acknowledged ages for child birth,

with the largest section of the population based on age bracket having just

entered this stage. A demographic winter may be the case for the developed

economies of Europe and Japan where the fertility rates have gone below

population replacement rates, but such is not a problem for a developing

country such as the Philippines with a majority of the population well-within

childbearing age and one that continues to grow at over two per cent per

year.

We must remember that poverty is a cycle – people in the lower brackets of

society, a big chunk of the 29M poor in 2007 are condemned to a perpetual

state of poverty and hunger by an accidental pregnancy and the lack of

adequate health services. And because the education of women in these

brackets are very limited, we can very well expect for them to transfer their

minimal knowledge to their children – and that can be more debilitating than

empowering. A generation of young children can grow up not knowing

reproductive health options, and what we will have is a generation repeating

the same mistakes as their parents.

Meeting the consumption requirement of a growing population requires

steady increases in food production.

Country’s per capita consumption of 112kilos of rice per year means the

Philippines will have to produce an additional 1.3 million metric tons of rice

per year to meet the future food requirements of the additional 12million

people at least by the year 2014. As it is, the country is already food

deficient and has been constantly relying on imports to meet the food

requirements of its population. In 2009 the country imported 2million metric

tons of rice to augment production shortfalls, only a slight decrease from the

2008 rice imports of 2.4million metric tons

Clearly, the Philippines cannot rely on imports to consistently meet its food

requirement as the volume of rice traded in the international market is less

than 6%. Our growing population will have to contend with the growing

population of rice-producing countries who use it primarily to meet their own

consumption requirements.

Additionally there are indications that the food market will be tighter than

usual. FAO predicts that food production needs to be increased by 40% by

2030 and 70% by the year 2050 based on the average 2005-2007 levels, in

order to cope with increasing global demand resulting from higher incomes

and bigger populations.

We have to remember that the world is confronted by an environmental

crisis – the world is becoming increasingly warmer, the climate is changing

drastically, and populations at the margins, developing country populations

are left without much defense to the wrath of nature- calamities have struck

wiping out lives and livelihood, leaving survivors destitute. We are running

out of food and other material supply for survival, yet we continue to face an

increase in the population that demands an increase in food production.

What can a comprehensive, updated health policy do to alleviate the

problem?

A comprehensive reproductive health policy buys the Philippine government

some time to make the necessary investments to ensure sustainable

development. It complements the new administration’s effort at poverty

containment – CCTs can ensure that each poor Filipino family sends children

to school, and provides additional cash for the families’ basic needs. A

reproductive health policy staves of drastic increases in population and

allows government to refocus its energies from poverty containment to

poverty alleviation: make the necessary reforms in governance and

development policies, such as improving public education and health

services, improving agricultural production, revising trade policies and other

economic programs– all necessary for the establishment of social safety nets

and the improvement of economic production.

The time for Reproductive Health has come.