Jakarta, September 26, 2019, World Contraception Day (WCD) – every September 26 – is the time of the year to voice out the importance of women reproductive health and family planning for better welfare and life quality of women, and their families. Since WCD was launched in 2007, Bayer and its 16 international partners have consistently run the reproductive health and contraception campaigns all around the world.

National Statistics Agency predicted that the total number of population in Indonesia by 2020 would be up to 271 million people. Millennial generation (age of 20 – 40 years old) is the biggest proportion in the age group, with 34% of the total predicted population, or equal to 83 million people. Based on its characteristics, millennial generation is unique and this is seen from the increasing use and familiarity with digital communications, media and technology².
 
Therefore, in this year’s WCD, Bayer Indonesia initiates education program for millennial moms in Jakarta to increase their knowledge about reproductive health and the importance of contraception in family planning, hence they have the Power of Options.
 
PT Bayer Indonesia President Director, Angel Michael Evangelista, in his remarks mentions,” In a few years from now, total number of productive age population in Indonesia will increase, dominated by generation Y or millennial generation. Millennial generation are used to technology in all aspects of life. Therefore, Bayer sees the importance to provide accurate information about reproductive health and contraception by using digital technology as a trustworthy education source for millennial moms, hence they have the Power of Options.”

During the event, dr. Boy Abidin, SpOG(K), explains, “The Power of Options is important for millennial moms. Having the opportunity to choose what is best for their reproductive health and family planning can help millennial moms to prepare pregnancy, maintain their health during pregnancy and give birth to next quality generation. Furthermore, family planning is also useful for millennial moms to empower themselves in education, social and economy aspects. Ease of access to information about the importance of family planning and various contraception with its contraception and non-contraception benefits will be supporting factors for millennial moms in determining their choice.”

Family planning can be done by controlling pregnancy with modern contraception. However, limited knowledge and misunderstanding regarding modern contraception methods often hampers the use of modern contraception³.

 
“Many millennial moms are scared in using hormonal contraception pill because it can cause infertility in the uterus, or known with the term ‘dry uterus’, weight gain, and even cancer. In reality, those are untrue. There are scientific studies that can break all of those myths,” says dr. Boy Abidin, SpOG(K).

He adds, “Modern contraception gives the Power of Options to women and their families by giving them peace of mind in planning their future, hence they can have more opportunities to achieve their desire. Non-contraception benefit of modern contraception can also improve health and life quality. For example, modern contraception pill has 98 – 99 percent pregnancy protection effectiveness and currently there is a modern contraception pill that contains 3mg of Drospirenone and 0.03mg of Ethinylestradiol to bring additional non-contraception benefit such as maintaining body weight, reducing menstrual pain and acne”.

The importance of the Power of Options for millennial moms is also echoed by Anna Surti Ariani, S.Psi., M.Si, Psychologist “Indonesian society gives pressure to newlyweds to immediately have children, even to have more children. Meanwhile the ideal psychological pregnancy distance is about 2 – 5 years. Moms need to be empowered in facing these social pressures, especially to choose if they want and when they want to be pregnant and have children. By making their own choices, they will be more responsible to deal with the consequences of their own choices.”

Unplanned pregnancy brings risks for mother and children. “There are often cases of refusal to pregnancy or unaware of being pregnant. Mothers’ stress level also increases during the pregnancy. Such pregnancy condition hampers the fetus growth. The same case is also found in post-delivery, where attachment between mother and baby may not develop optimally, effecting children psychological development. In contrary, with planned pregnancy, mothers can develop themselves, take care of their family optimally hence feel happier. Every child brought to life receives more attention hence their development is more optimal,” she added.

Furthermore, Nina says, "As previously explained, one method of family planning is to use contraception. However, there are barriers for mothers in using contraception, especially contraceptive pills, namely forgetfulness, busyness, lack of understanding of how to use it, there are major changes in life (moving house or moving work, fighting with spouse, etc.), traveling to other countries, not putting the pill in a convenient place, the lack of a pharmacy or health center that provide contraceptive pills, the notion that pills are expensive, experiencing domestic violence and culture⁴."

To overcome these barriers, Nina added, "Mothers can do a number of things such as finding all information about using contraceptive pills, determining the most comfortable time to take them, using a wallet or bag that is always carried (not replaced) and putting the contraceptive pill in the wallet or the bag, uses a cellphone alarm as a reminder. "

Proper family planning will provide an opportunity for mothers to develop themselves for example in terms of education and social. Of course, in term of family planning, mothers also need the full support of their husbands as partners.

“Husband’s role is crucial as a partner in family planning. Various barriers, be it from mother’s side or the surrounding, can be minimized and resolved with the involvement of the husband. Therefore, families will be able to prevent unplanned pregnancy, and able to create a happier family,” explains Nina.

According to World Health Organization, 214 million women in their fertile age in the developing countries are not using modern contraception method³. Family planning allows husband and wife to decide the number of children they desire to have, along with the intermittent period in between. Today in Indonesia, the use of contraception pill is the second biggest choice (21.2%) after injection (50.8%)⁵.

Family planning can also increase women economic condition. A research conducted by an economist few years ago, Amalia Miller, proves that when a woman is married at the age of 20 years old and able to delay motherhood for one year, then her life income can increase by 10%, because she will be able to complete her education and continue her career before having a child⁶.

Therefore, the Power of Option is critical for millennial moms.

-- The End --

World Contraception Day (WCD)
 
WCD is conducted on every September 26. It is an annual world global campaign with the vision that every pregnancy ought to be a planned pregnancy. WCD was launched in 2017 with the mission to increase the knowledge on contraception and to provide information to the public to further understand and able to make decisions related to their reproductive health. To achieve this goal, sixteen international partners formed WCD coalition consisting of NGO, government organisation, scientific and medical associations, and supported by Bayer:
• Asia Pacific Council on Contraception (APCOC)
• Centro Latinamericano Salud y Mujer (CELSAM)
• DSW (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung)
• EngenderHealth (EH)
• European Society of Contraception and Reproductive Health (ESC)
• Family Planning 2020 (FP2020)
• International Federation of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology (FIGIJ)
• International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)
• Marie Stopes International (MSI)
• Pathfinder International
• Population Council
• Population Services International (PSI)
• The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
• United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
• Women Deliver (WD)

 
References:
<sub>1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4776867/
2. https://www.kemenpppa.go.id/lib/uploads/list/9acde-buku-profil-generasi-milenia.pdf.
3. Cecilia Caetano, Tina Peers, Linda Papadopoulos, Katja Wiggers, Yvonne Engler & Heather Grant (2019). Millennials and contraception: why do they forget? An international survey exploring the impact of lifestyles and stress levels on adherence to a daily contraceptive regimen. The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care. 24:1, 30-38, DOI: 10.1080/13625187.2018.1563065
4. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/family-planning-contraception
5. https://www.familyplanning2020.org/indonesia
6. http://theunbrokenwindow.com/Research%20Methods/fertilitytiming-miller.pdf</sub>
 
 

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