NU 12 by Cancer Buster - Family Planning by LARC

Entrepreneurship
MBAH H04
LARC
cancerbuster

According to National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) in 2003, the Filipino woman has an average of 3.5 children. This is one of the highest fertility levels in Asia. Around 2.1 million children were born in the Philippines in 2003 which is equivalent to about 5,700 births a day. The growing population of our country, even if our economic status is said to be improving, still, too much people to feed and to provide basic human needs, poses a burden to each and every one of us.
Spacing children at least 3 years apart saves lives. NDHS data show that children born less than 24 months after a previous birth are twice likely to die before age 5 as children born 3 years after a previous birth.
Educating mothers on family planning (FP) is an important aspect of her reproductive life. The freedom of choice is a basic human right. Thus, such methods should be made available if she chooses to use them. Majority of FP methods use in our country is that of the pill and barrier followed by natural method. However, the effectivity of the methods mentioned relies on the patient compliance. Hence, the introduction of long acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) will increase patients' compliance and is worry-free.


LARC is a form of FP that offers longer protection and prompt return to fertility once a women is desirous of conceiving. Examples of LARC include intrauterine devices/system, progestin injectibles and implants.


Implants are inserted subdermally under local anesthesia. It is an office procedure that is provider-administered. The commercial product is known as Etonorgestrel implant (Implanon). It is a single-rod LARC implant that is clinically safe and with an effectivity of 3 years. It is widely used in UK, Australia and in some parts of Asia (Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand). However, in the Philippines, it is not yet available. One implant contains 68 mg of etonorgestrel with a release rate of approximately 60-70 μg/day in weeks 5-6, decreasing to about 35-45 μg/day at the end of the first year, 30-40 g/day at the end of the second year and 25-30 μg/day at the end of the third year.
The availability of this implant in our market can help mothers who choose to have longer birth spacing without the hassles associated with the other methods. However, corollary to its usage, provision of technical expertise for implant insertion and removal is mandatory. Thus, training of health providers like gynecologists, municipal health officers, and even general practitioners need to be accomplished for it to be available in the grass-root level. This method can be a big help in attaining our country's millenium development goals #4 and #5 as mandated by World Health Organization (WHO) which are to reduce child mortality and to improve maternal health, respectively.