Simalungun, N Sumatra (ANTARA) - Access to the Family Planning (KB) program is the right of all people and must be ensured by the state, the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) has said. "In Indonesia, there is the National Health Insurance (JKN) so that all Indonesian people have the right to basic health services, including KB services," BKKBN’s deputy for training, research, and development, Muhammad Rizal M. Damamik, said here on Friday.
KB services include contraceptive counseling, installation, and examination, as well as the removal or replacement of devices, provision of medicines, and contraceptive methods, he informed.
Acceptors can choose a contraceptive method after counseling with doctors and midwives. Nationally, the government is providing long-term contraceptive methods, such as implants, intrauterine devices (IUDs), female sterilization or tubal ligation, and male sterilization or vasectomy. Meanwhile, short-term contraceptive methods include condoms, pills, and injections.
The KB program is aimed at reducing the rate of maternal and child mortality, total fertility rate, and extreme poverty in Indonesia, while also campaigning to encourage people not to get pregnant at too young an age, too old an age, too frequently, and too often.
According to him, the BKKBN is currently carrying out simultaneous KB services in Sumatra to help families adjust interpregnancy intervals and reduce the number of babies who are born with low birth weight and have the potential to become stunted.
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"KB services are also being provided in KB villages as a form of integrated cooperation between KB officers, local health workers, and the provision of health service facilities, which are at least provided by community health centers (puskesmas) or other health facilities in KB villages," he said.
He explained that KB services are being provided under a capitation system in which the information is disseminated through KB villages. People, especially those with low income, can get KB services for free and get protection funds in case of contraception failure, which will need to be reported through the mechanism set by the BKKBN and the National Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan).