Old family planning program revitalized

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 02/20/2008 1:18 PM  |  Headlines

Nostalgia for the golden days of family planning raised its head when the National Family Planning Board (BKKBN) relaunched the "Blue Circle" birth control program for middle- and upper-income groups Tuesday.

BKKBN head Sugiri Syarief recalled the great success of the program under former president Soeharto many years ago, without detailing its future campaigns.

"We must refer to the success of the past and let's actively promote this program like we did before," Sugiri said at the relaunch.

The ceremony was highlighted by the playing of the program's official theme song from the late 1980s and the re-introduction to its old logo.

"We were divided about whether we should use a new logo or the old one, but then decided to stick with the old one as a reminder of the success of the program," he said.

Despite the high spirits in reviving the program, no details were provided on how the "revitalized" and self-funding family planning program would attract people to take part.

"There will be some promotional campaigns and we will send 31 ambassadors throughout the country to promote the program," said Sugiri of the board's strategy to meet the target of signing up 4 million participants this year.

The national family planning program was initiated in 1970. The Blue Circle was introduced 18 years later. Indonesia won the UN Population Awards in 1987.

During the Soeharto era, people considered birth control a "way of life", as the result of the successful massive campaign throughout the country, with family planning outreach workers trained to visit villages and raise understanding of the program.

Under Soeharto, Indonesia curbed its population growth from 1.23 percent between 1970 and 1980 to 1.98 percent between 1980 and 1990.

The program lost its popularity as administrators of municipalities and regencies developed their own agendas with regional autonomy after Soeharto stepped down in 1998.

"Now that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has told us to revive this program, we want to make it a 'well-accepted norm' in society, like before," Sugiri said.

The government is carrying out the self-financing program because it can only provide about 30 percent of the needed contraceptive products through community health centers.

As the government prioritizes free products for low-income people, it is encouraging middle to upper class people to pay for their own birth control. The government also has asked private institutions like pharmacies, hospitals and clinics to provide people with birth control services and devices.

The Blue Circle program, Sugiri said, targeted 4 million people from the total of 6.6 million expected to join the national program on family planning this year.

He said that as the program required people to pay for their contraceptives, they would get better services and products.. "We offer high-quality contraceptive products that have met the pre-qualification standard of the WHO (World Health Organization)."

"We also make sure that users will be in the hands of professionals and have access to a complete range of contraceptive products and information," he said. (dia)

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