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Subject:      JAMAICA:FAMILY PLANNING SAVES PUBLI

/* Written 12:10 am  Dec 17, 1992 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in igc:ips.englibrary
*/
/* ---------- "JAMAICA:FAMILY PLANNING SAVES PUBLI" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: JAMAICA:FAMILY PLANNING SAVES PUBLIC BILLIONS, SAYS STUDY


an inter press service feature

by celia muschett

kingston, dec 14 (ips) -- just by having an organised family
planning programme, jamaica is projected to save itself an
estimated five billion jamaican dollars (one u.s. dollar is
equal to 22 jamaican) in education and health costs over a
30-year period between 1970 and the year 2000.

family planning practitioners here are relying on this
compelling argument to persuade the government to pump money
into birth control programmes, following notification from donor
agencies that they would be putting their money where it was
more desperately needed.

the united states agency for international development
(usaid), the biggest of the aid agencies, said as of next year,
it will begin to reduce its contribution to the state-run
national family planning board (nfpb), eventually phasing out
altogether.

usaid argued that jamaica's family planning programme has
matured, having achieved a contraceptive prevalence rate of 55
per cent, meaning that that percentage of sexually active women
are using some form of birth control device.

jamaica, through the efforts of a few individuals, has had an
active family planning programme since the 1930s. a national
programme was introduced in 1967.

in 1983, the government launched a national population policy,
aimed at holding the population of 2.4 million people below the
three million mark at year 2000.

worried that with international funding cutoff, its social
gains could be wiped out, nfpb officials recently held a seminar
to present the results of a usaid-sponsored cost-benefit
analysis of the impact of family planning in jamaica, between
1970 and the year 2000.

the study showed that net savings in the education and health
sectors from just having the family planning programmes, would be
five billion jamaican dollars.

the public sector would only have spent about 850 million
jamaican dollars on family planning programmes in the 30-year
period. this means that in the health and education sectors
alone, the state-sponuored family planning programme would have
paid for itself nearly three times over by the year 2000.
(more/ips)

jamaica: family planning saves public billions (2)

presenting these data at the seminar here, head of the family
planning board, beryl chevannes, argued that had the model been
applied to other sectors the benefit-cost ratio would have been
even larger.

she cited sectors such as transportation, housing and water,
saying that greater savings would have resulted for the economy,
under the model applied to the family planning programme.

the nfpb hopes to convince the government that every dollar
spent in family planning is worth several more in preventive
savings.

nfpb officials believe that many of the demographic and
financial gains achieved by the family planning programme to
date would be jeopardised if the programme is not strengthened
or intensified.

''a genuine commitment by government leaders is required to
achieve policy improvements and increased commitment of
resources for family planning  by the govejnment,'' the
cost-benefit study said.

the model used was the fam-plan system of models, focusing on
impact, cost and benefit.

fam-plan system of models involve family planning programme
evaluation, planning and financial analysis. this model has been
applied in several developing countries including bangladesh,
india, indonesia, rwanda, sri lanka, and thailand.

the jamaica study, said to be the first such application in
the americas, showed that in 1970, there were 479,010 pupils
enrolled in government-sponsored schools. by 1980, the government
would have had to enrol 2.6 per cent more pupils in the absence
of a family planning programme, chevannes said.

using th
lsame model, she added that by 1990, the government
would have had to enrol 18.1 per cent more and by 1999, some 45.
2 per cent more pupils, at tremendous cost to the public purse.

in the area of health, it is estimated that in 1999, the
government would spend 606 million dollars, assuming
continuation of a strong family planning programme and 957
million dollars, in the absence of a programme.

''for every one hundred dollar the government invests in
family planning, it would realize a discounted savings of 280
dollar in the health and education sectors,'' chevannes
concluded. (end/ips/cm/dla/92)
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