PHILIPPINES CONSTRACEPTION FUNDING CUT WILL FUEL HIV AND MATERIAL DEATH?

 

The Philippines legislature's decision to eliminate funding for contraception will fuel HIV infections, maternal deaths and teen pregnancies, particularly among poor girls and women, reproductive rights advocates said on Friday.

MANILA: The Philippines legislature's decision to eliminate funding for contraception will fuel HIV infections, maternal deaths and teen pregnancies, particularly among poor girls and women, reproductive rights advocates said on Friday.

The decision to cut the US$21 million contraceptive budget surprised and infuriated legislators and advocacy groups who had struggled more than a decade to pass the Reproductive Health Law that guaranteed funds to provide contraceptives to the poor.

"We are so insulted by this. It is a violation of the very essence of a law that Congress itself enacted," said Rom Dongeto, executive director of the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development Foundation (PLCPD) comprised of lawmakers and members of civil society.

"Women are dying from maternal complications, teens are getting pregnant and people are dying from HIV-related causes. Lives of Filipino citizens are at stake," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone.

The Philippines, a largely Catholic archipelago nation of about 100 million people, has struggled to manage its burgeoning population and seen skyrocketing 

HIV infection rates in recent years.

Source: Channel Asia...More...