1. Reproductive Health and Population
RALPH JULIUS BAWALAN

2. Everyone has the right to enjoy reproductive
health, which is a basis for having healthy
children, intimate relationships and happy
families.
UNFP Vision: that every child is wanted, every
birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV
and every girl and woman is treated with
dignity and respect.

3. Reproductive Health
• a state of complete physical, mental & social well-
being & not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters
relating to the reproductive system &
to its functions and processes.
• RH implies that:
– People are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life; &
– They have the capability to reproduce; &
– The freedom to decide if, when & how often to do so

5. POPULATION DYNAMICS
• Population dynamics:
growth rates, age structure, fertility and
mortality, migration influence every aspect of
human, social and economic development.
• Other core areas of population dynamics
– reproductive health
– women's empowerment
BOTH are powerfully influential in
population trends.

6. POPULATION AND POVERTY
Global population is expected to increase from 6.5
billion today to 9.1 billion by 2050, and the
population of the 50 poorest countries will more
than double to reach 1.7 billion. (UNFPA)

7. Ethical Principles
• Principle of Individual Liberty
• Utilitarian Principle
• Principle of Justice
• Rights of women and men to be informed and to
have access to safe, effective, affordable &
acceptable family planning methods of their
choice, as well as other methods for regulation of
fertility WHICH ARE NOT AGAINST THELAW.

8. REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROBLEMS
• Remain the leading cause of ill health and
death for women of childbearing age
worldwide.
– unintended pregnancies
– maternal death and disability
– sexually transmitted infections (e.g.HIV)
– gender-based violence
– and other problems related to
their reproductive system
and sexual behaviour.

9. 2015 GOAL
The critical importance of reproductive health to
development has been acknowledged at
the highest level.
TAGET FOR MDG FRAMEWORK:
Reproductive Health for all... A reality.

10. MDG
The core of all MDGs, from improving health
and fighting disease to reducing poverty and
mitigating hunger, expanding education and
lowering child mortality, increasing access to
safe water and ensuring environmental
sustainability.

11. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
• international community’s
time-bound and quantified
targets for addressing
extreme poverty in its many
forms.

12. PILLARS OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
• Responsible Parenthood
• Respect for Life
• Birth Spacing
• Informed Choice

13. HB 4244 or RH Bill
Act providing for
COMPREHENSIVE Policy
on Responsible
Parenthood, Reproducti
ve Health, and
Population
Development

14. China ONE-CHILD Policy
• Birth control policy that was supposed to deal
with the high population growth and its social
and economical problems for the People's
Republic of China.
(+) decelerated China’s rapid population
(+) create highly educated skilled and more
productive workforce

15. Effects One Child Policy
• Abuses against women and girls
– the abortion of baby girls, forced sterilizations and
abortions, earlier ageing of the population, the
effects on gender equalities, increasing effects on
human trafficking, etc.
(-) abuse of human rights
(-) forced abortion and sterilization
(-) violence in women
(-) male- female birthrate ratio

16. Philippines in Focus
• The Philippines recognizes health as
a basic human right. It protects and
promotes the right to health of the
people and instils health
consciousness among them.
• Although this provision is guaranteed
by the 1987 Constitution and the
health care system in the Philippines
is generally extensive, access to
health services, especially by the
poor, is still hampered by high
cost, physical and social-cultural

17. PHILIPPINES IN FOCUS (NS0)
• The Philippine population would continue to
grow, increasing from 76.5 million from
2000, to 141.7 million in 2040

18. Philippines in Focus
• In comparison with other countries, the
Philippine ranked twelfth among the countries
of the world in terms of total population.
• The Philippines is ranked fifth among
Southeast Asian countries in annual
population growth rate.

19. CONSTITUTION’S PROVISIONS ON RH
• Art. II. Sec. 12. - … The State shall equally protect the life of the
mother & the life of the unborn from conception…
• Art. II. Sec. 15.–The State shall protect & promote the right to
health of the people and instill health consciousness among them.
• Art. XIII. Sec. 11.–The State shall adopt an integrated &
comprehensive approach to health development which shall
endeavor to make essential goods, health & other social services
available to all the people at affordable cost. There shall be priority
for the needs of the underprivileged, sick, elderly, disabled, women
& children.
• Art. XV. Sec. 3. [1]–The State shall defend the right of spouses to
found a family in accordance with their religious convictions and the
demands of responsible parenthood.

20. RH Realities in
Philippines
• Mean age at marriage for males is 20 & 19 for
females.
• Mean age at having 1st child is 19.
• Almost 10% of young Filipino women aged 15-19
has already given birth.
• Adolescent pregnancy is 30% of all annual births
• Poor and uneducated women marry and give
birth earlier in life, than women with higher
education.

21. RH Realities in
Philippines
• More than 10 Filipino women die daily due to
pregnancy & childbirth- related complications
(UNFPA, 2007) & over half (56%) of yearly
maternal deaths are unreported.
• Poor women have 3 times more children than
the rich.
• Population growth rate (PGR) is pegged at
2.04% which translates to about 2 million new
Filipinos yearly.

22. RH Realities in
Philippines
• Mean age at first sex for males is 17 & 18 for
females. 16% of youth had first sex before age
15.
• 31.2% of males & 15.9% of females had
premarital sex.
• 50.6% of the youth wants to have only 2
children.
http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2007/pr0730tx.html

23. Pulse Asia Survey
• 92% of Filipinos considers FP important.
• 89% of Filipinos thinks that government should
provide budgetary support
for modern methods of FP including modern
contraceptives.
• Ultimately, the majority of Filipino women across
all socioeconomic classes have spoken: they want
fewer children. And Filipinos in general have
affirmed the importance of addressing the
population issue. Good governance requires that
the government listen to the people’s voice.

24. “Seventy percent of unwanted pregnancies in the
Philippines end in abortion”
– Jean-Marc Olivé, Representative of the PHL to the WHO
The big majority of women having induced abortion are
poor (68%),married (91%), with more than 3 children
(57%), and Catholic (87%).(UPPU-AGI, 2006)

25. Why RH Bill is PROlife?
1. RH will: Protect the health & lives of mothers
2. Save babies
3. Respond to the majority who want smaller
families
4. Promote equity for poor families
5. Prevent induced abortions
6. Support and deploy more public
midwives, nurses and doctors

26. Why RH Bill is PROlife?
7. Guarantee funding for & equal access to
health facilities
8. Give accurate & positive sexuality education
to young people
9. Reduce cancer deaths
10. Save money that can be used for even more
social spending

27. Humanitarian Ethics
• Every mother on Php100 per day knows that
the family will be better fed if there are three
children round the table rather than ten.
• Family planning could bring more benefits to
more people at less cost than any other
known technology. It should be a HIGH
priority.

28. Humanitarian Ethics
• Promoting reproductive health and improving
conditions for its attainment are an ethical
obligation. People should "have the ability to
reproduce, to regulate their fertility, and to
practice and enjoy sexual relationships"; they
should be "the subjects rather than the objects"
of reproductive health programmes.
• Benefits and responsibilities related to
reproductive decisions must be allocated
equitably. No group should be denied services.

29. Humanitarian Ethics
• Persons must be treated with respect, and
individuals’ autonomy respected. Women
should not be treated as a means for reaching
a goal of optimal population.
• Individuals should be given a range of
alternatives and the right to refuse unwanted
family planning methods or medical
procedures.

30. CONCLUSION
To address issues of population and reproductive
health ethically, Governments must devise
strategies that are broadly integrated with social
and economic development, improved education
and political and legal reform.
Like other important social goods, reproductive
health can only flourish in a climate of respect for
human dignity and protection of fundamental
human rights.

31. END OF REPORT