Family planning 'is central to elections in the Philippines'
04/03/2010
Advocates for family planning are urging voters to act against candidates who oppose contraception in the Philippines.
Legislative, local and presidential elections are to take place on May 10th and the issue of funding for pregnancy prevention has taken centre stage in the largely Catholic country, reports Irin News.
"If they want us to vote for them, they should allocate funding for contraceptives," said Fe Nicodemus, a reproductive health campaigner.
"We want a real reproductive health programme here in Manila," he added.
Around 80 per cent of the population is believed to be Catholic and a 2008 national demographic survey - released in January this year - by the National Statistics Office discovered that about one in three births in the country were unplanned.
However, authorities in the country distributed condoms last month in an attempt to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS over the Valentine's Day weekend celebrations.
Written by Simon Bassett
