Around 17% of reproductive-age women have unmet needs for modern family planning. This translates to roughly 5.4 million Filipino women.

Women who had completed only primary education or lower had 1.2x higher odds of having an unmet need for modern family planning. Likewise, women from the poorest households had 1.7x higher odds of unmet need compared with those from the richest households—despite having 2.3x higher odds of expressing demand for family planning.

Unmet need for modern family planning is also higher for mothers (27%) than those without children (5%).

Oral contraceptives (pills) are the most widely known contraceptive method among reproductive-age women, with 97% reporting awareness of pills. This is followed by male condoms (96%), tubal ligation (86%), and injectables (85%). Awareness is somewhat lower for implants (80%) and IUDs (76%). Vasectomy is only known by 59%.

Among women of reproductive age who use or intend to use modern contraception, pills are the leading modern contraceptive method either currently used or intended for future use, at 56%. This is followed by tubal ligation (12%), injectables (10%), male condoms (9%), implants (7%), IUDs (5%), and vasectomy (less than 1%).

Among pill users, 70% access them from pharmacies. Only 24% access them from public facilities like rural health units and government hospitals. This highlights the important role of pharmacies in access to oral contraceptives. It also reveals a mismatch between where it is provided for free (i.e. RHUs and government hospitals) and where women are actually accessing them (i.e. private retail pharmacies).

Currently, PhilHealth covers IUDs, subdermal implants, vasectomy, and tubal ligation through case rates. The DOH/MOH also procures male condoms, ethinylestradiol + levonorgestrel, lynestrenol, progestin injectables, subdermal implants, and copper IUDs. 

However, other formulations of oral contraceptives included in the Philippine National Formulary (e.g., ethinylestradiol + desogestrel
and ethinylestradiol + norethisterone) are not currently covered. This coverage gap may disproportionately affect poorer women, who may be more vulnerable to inconsistent contraceptive use when continuous access depends on out-of-pocket spending.

There is a need to cover additional contraceptive methods because women differ in their health conditions and in how they respond to side effects.

Some formulations may be better suited to specific concerns. For example, norethisterone-containing pills may be useful for women with heavy menstrual bleeding, dysmenorrhea, or endometriosis-related symptoms, while desogestrel-containing pills may be preferable for women with acne, hirsutism, or PMOS-related symptoms.

Expanding coverage allows women to have contraceptive options that suit their individual health needs and tolerability.

Given that private retail pharmacies serve as access points to the majority of pill users, a lack of PhilHealth coverage leaves women of lower socioeconomic backgrounds vulnerable to the unpredictable cost of oral contraceptives, which can lead to discontinued use and unintended pregnancies. 

Yes. Under section 7 of the Universal Health Care Act, individual-based services shall be financed by PhilHealth, private health insurance, and HMO plans. Oral contraceptives, injectables, and other modern family planning methods are considered individual-based services because their use is traceable to an individual. 

Part of streamlining the financing roles of PhilHealth and DOH for individual-based and population-based services, respectively, is to develop the appropriate benefit packages for currently DOH-financed individual-based commodities and eventually fully-transition financing to PhilHealth (i.e., sunset DOH procurement of these commodities). 

To promote the efficient use of public funds, efficient use of public funds may be ensured in the GAA while transition to PhilHealth financing is underway. The timing, arrangements, and measures needed to facilitate the transition and reduce financing risks shall be jointly determined by DOH and PhilHealth.