Medical costs for all women experiencing an unintended pregnancy in 2008 (at PhilHealth rates for normal and cesarean births, newborn care and treatment of abortion complications) were at least P3.5 billion. Maternal and newborn care related to intended pregnancies cost an additional P3.9 billion. Thus, expenditures on pregnancy-related services, plus the current cost of contraceptive services (P1.9 billion), total at least P9.3 billion (Figure 4). In contrast, without current contraceptive use, the cost of medical care for pregnant women would be at least P12.1 billion.
If all women at risk for unintended pregnancy used only modern NFP methods, total costs would rise from the current P9.3 billion to P10.0 billion, because spending on family planning would increase without a large reduction in medical care for unintended pregnancies.
However, increasing funding to enable all women at risk to use either the current mix of contraceptives or modern methods only would reduce net spending. In a scenario using the current mix of modern and traditional methods, spending on family planning would increase from P1.9 billion to P2.7 billion, but medical costs for unintended pregnancies would fall from P3.5 billion to P1.6 billion—a net savings of P1.1 billion. If all women at risk used modern contraceptive methods, including a small proportion using modern NFP methods, spending on family planning would increase from P1.9 billion to P4.0 billion, but medical costs for unintended pregnancies would fall from P3.5 billion to P0.6 billion. Total costs would drop from P9.3 billion to P8.5 billion—a net savings of P0.8 billion.
Only 38% of women in the Philippines deliver their babies in a health facility, and levels are especially low in ARMM (11%), MIMAROPA (16%) and Zamboanga (16%; data not shown). Reducing unintended pregnancies would make the goal of having all pregnant women receive skilled, facilitybased care during pregnancy and delivery more attainable. Providing facility-based care for all pregnant women today would roughly double the annual costs of their medical care from the current minimum of P7.4 billion to P15.9 billion. Increasing the ability of women and their partners to use contraceptives, however, would reduce the costs of medical care for all pregnant women. The cost of medical care would decline slightly from P15.9 billion to P14.9 billion if all women at risk used modern NFP methods, to P11.7 billion if they used the current mix of contraceptive methods, and to only P9.6 billion if they used modern methods in the same proportions as today’s users.
Reducing unintended pregnancies by meeting women’s need for contraception, especially by providing highly effective methods, also
reduces stress on education, health care and other social services.4,20,21 Savings in these areas, as well as in pregnancy-related medical care, can be used to improve and expand a range of public services, making it easier for the Philippines to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and other development objectives.