Many Indonesians remain hesitant to use contraception due to myths or misunderstanding surrounding pregnancy prevention device, Head of the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) Hasto Wardoyo stated.
“There are many myths that exist. Hence, dissemination of information (public awareness campaign) and counseling remain necessary,” he told ANTARA on Sunday.
For instance, he refuted the notion that contraception can affect a person’s sexual drive. According to Wardoyo, using contraception can also make a person’s sexual drive to be more stable.
However, he did acknowledge that using a condom can make sexual relation a little uncomfortable since condom prevents direct contact.
Meanwhile, he also highlighted that every contraception has its own rate of failure which can cause pregnancy.
For instance, the failure rate of condom is 25:100 per year, meaning that for every 100 fertile couples that use condom, there are 25 couples who failed to prevent pregnancy within a single year.
Meanwhile, the failure rate for intrauterine devices (IUD) is lower compared to condom. Hence, the IUD utilization is deemed to be more successful in pregnancy planning.
“Long-term contraception, such as implant, injection, IUD, have a small failure rate of just three out of one thousand per year. Failure certainly exists, but each contraception differ,” he explained.
To reduce pregnancy figure or to plan pregnancy, natural family planning can also serve as an alternative. This is a contraception method utilized without the aid of certain device, medicine, or procedure.
One of the natural family planning methods is recording menstruation cycle to avoid sexual relation during the fertile period.
During the occasion, Wardoyo also emphasized the need to continue disseminating information on the importance of contraception to reduce the number of unplanned births.
Source: Antara News