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ong-term contraception will be mandatory for mothers seeking free childbirth care from the government program Jampersal if they already have three children, a senior official for family planning says.

Sugiri Syarief, head of the National Demography and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), said on Wednesday that, starting in 2012, the government would require mothers under the Jampersal program who had three children to use long-term contraceptives, particularly intrauterine devices (IUD).

“We will provide no coverage to [Jampersal] seekers who refuse to practice family planning while in fact they already have three children,” Sugiri said on the sidelines of a hearing with Commission IX overseeing health and labor issues at the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

According to the BKKBN, about 80 percent of mothers who sought Jampersal coverage agreed to the contraceptive plan. BKKBN said some already had three children but refused to use contraception.

“It won’t be our loss if we require all Jampersal seekers to practice family planning if they already have three children. With such a requirement, we can catch fertile-aged people who have missed our family planning program,” said Sugiri.

Among married couples in the country, quarterly injections are the most popular contraceptive method.

“We prefer long-term contraceptives, especially IUDs, to the short-term,” said Sugiri, adding that the IUD could last eight years.

Currently, about 35,000 midwives and 10,000 non-specialist physicians received training on post placental IUD insertion.

Most Indonesian women prefer implants to IUDs, but the BKKBN can only meet 20 percent of the demand for implants due to their higher cost. An implant costs Rp 220,000 while an IUD costs Rp 15,000.

To support family planning among Jampersal clients, Commission IX approved an additional
Rp 145 billion (US$16.97 million) for more contraceptive implants. The government previously allocated
Rp 2.5 trillion to the program.

Jampersal was introduced by the Health Ministry to provide full coverage for residents seeking medical help with childbirth in third-class facilities at public and private hospitals and community health centers.

The program covers not only medical treatment in childbirth but treatment such as prenatal treatment, postnatal treatment and family planning services.

Imam Suroso, a Commission IX member, said the government should increase its effort to control the population.

Indonesia’s population reached 237.6 million people in 2010, indicating rapid growth, according to the latest national census. The population has increased by 32.5 million since 2000, growing 1.49 percent per year.

“It’s quite high. More efforts are needed to cope with the soaring population,” Imam said.

In 2015, in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the population growth rate should decrease to 1.1 percent per year.

The national family planning agency has faced various obstacles such as a high fertility rate of 2.6 percent and the fact that 9.1 percent of the contraceptive need among fertile-aged couples remained un-met. The total fertility rate should decrease to 2.1 percent and unmet contraceptive need should decrease to 5 percent.

“We still see low, insignificant growth in the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR), growing only 1 percent per year, and high disparities between provinces,” said Sugiri, adding that the CPR was projected to increase to 5 percent by 2015.