Family and Health

Unmet Need for Family Planning Remains High (Results from the 2011 Family Health Survey)

The 2011 Family Health Survey (FHS) results reveal that unmet need for family planning (FP) among married women in the Philippines remains high at 19.3 percent, 10.5 percent for birth spacing and 8.8 percent for limiting births. In the 2006 Family Planning Survey, unmet need for FP was 15.7 percent, 8.4 percent for spacing and 7.3 percent for limiting (Table 1). Unmet need for FP refers to the proportion of currently married women who are not using any method of family planning but do not want any more children or prefer to space births.

Women in Poor Households Are Less Likely To Practice Family Planning (Results from the 2011 Family Health Survey)

Use of family planning (FP) method is lower among women in poor households than those in non-poor households (43.1 percent versus 51.3 percent), according to the results of the 2011 Family Health Survey (FHS). The difference is mainly due to the lower prevalence rate for modern methods among poor women (31.8 percent) than non-poor women (38.9 percent). The most significant difference is on the use of female sterilization. The survey findings reveal that 5.2 percent of poor women as compared to 10.0 percent of non-poor women use female sterilization (Table 1).

17.3 Million Filipino Adults are Current Tobacco Smokers (Final Results from the 2009 Global Adult Tobacco Survey)

Twenty-eight percent or 17.3 million Filipino adults age 15 years and older are current tobacco smokers, according to the results of the 2009 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS). Almost half (48 percent or 14.6 million) of adult males and 9 percent (2.8 million) of adult females are current smokers. Moreover, 23 percent of Filipino adults are daily tobacco smokers: 38 percent for males and 7 percent for females.

Fewer Children Were Immunized in 2001

Based on the 2001 Maternal and Child Health Survey (MCHS), 61.3 percent of approximately 2 million Filipino children 12 to 23 months old were fully immunized in 2001 as compared to 65.2 percent of children of the same ages based on the 2000 MCHS. The percentage of children fully immunized in rural areas registered a decrease of six percentage points - from 62.7 percent in 2000 to 56.5 percent in 2001. The percentage in urban areas decreased slightly - from 68.0 percent in 2000 to 66.9 percent in 2001. A child is considered fully immunized if he/she has received BCG, 3 doses of DPT, 3 doses of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) and anti-measles vaccines before turning one year old.

2003 National Demographic and Health Survey

The 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) is a nationally representative survey of 13,945 women age 15-49 and 5,009 men age 15-54. The main purpose of the 2003 NDHS is to provide policy makers and program managers with detailed information on fertility, family planning, childhood and adult mortality, maternal and child health, knowledge and attitudes related to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. The 2003 NDHS also collects high quality data on family health: immunizations, prevalence and treatment of diarrhea and other diseases among children under five, antenatal visits, assistance at delivery and breastfeeding.

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