A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Bangkok
Hundreds of Islamic fundamentalists staged a rally at Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta last month to protest National Condom Week campaign.
The protesters said they deplored the massive condom campaign because it promoted free sex. They said it should instead have promoted prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
Participants at a recent reproductive health workshop in Bangkok, Thailand, said cultural challenges, including religious objections to contraceptives and political ignorance, contributed to the country's high maternal mortality rate.
The regional Asian workshop focused on strengthening abilities to secure reproductive health and was attended by lawmakers, government officials, media professionals non-governmental organizations from nine countries including China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Mongolia, The Philippines and Timor Leste.
The workshop discussed the UN concept, Reproductive Health Commodity Security, which is a situation that allows the public to obtain affordable and quality reproductive health commodities, including medicines and contraceptives.
The workshop was held by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Asian Forum for Parliamentarians in Population Development (AFPPD) in Bangkok from Dec. 11 to Dec. 13.
Workshop participant Rodante Marcolleta, also a member of the Philippines's parliament, said the Catholic Church strongly rejected reproductive health programs, especially family planning methods.
"In the Philippines, the church is the main challenge for the family planning programs," Marcolleta said.
"I hope other participants of the workshop can give us suggestions how to deal with it."
Indonesian participant Soedibyo Alimoeso, also principal secretary of the National Family Planning Agency, recommended an exchange between religious leaders among countries which conducted family planning programs.
"We faced similar problems in the beginning of the program," Soedibyo said.
"We brought our ulema (Muslim preachers) to Islamic countries which successfully conducted the program.
"The preachers then supported the program through their own way."
He suggested the Philippine government could bring the priests to visit Indonesia's predominantly Catholic province of East Nusa Tenggara or Timor Leste which have religious leaders who supported the family planning program.
To avoid rejection from religious leaders and Islamic political parties, he said his agency did not use an old slogan "Two Children Are Enough" and had changed it into "Two Children Are Better".
"So we have not faced any rejection from the parliament," said Soedibyo who is a United States-educated demographer.
However, he said the family program was still facing problems, especially related with local politics due to the current regional autonomy program.
He said there was also a lack of knowledge and understanding of priorities from the mayors and regents on the program.
"The mayors and regents think that the family planning program is not really important. They prioritize physical development," he said.
During the authoritarian regime of President Soeharto, the family planning program was one of the government's top priorities.
The government provided a sufficient supply of contraceptives in village community health centers.
The government also gave many incentives to civil servants and members of armed forces who joined the program.
Since the downfall of Soeharto in 1998 and following the economic crisis across Asia, many community health centers reportedly faced a shortage of reproductive health commodities, including medicines and contraceptives.
President Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently issued a presidential instruction asking the country's regents and mayors to prioritize the program.
The unequal status of women, mostly in developing countries, is another cultural obstacle that hampers reproductive-health-related programs.
Husbands and extended families have allegedly often banned women from joining the family program.
Poverty and lack of education has also been blamed for the difficulty women have in accessing reproductive health.
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