Family Planning as an Investment in Human Capital: Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Programme in Malaybalay, Bukidnon, the Philippines

The objective of the study is to determine the effects of family planning and maternal and reproductive health (FP-MRH) programmes in cities and to analyze the institutional factors that can make them effective. The proposed methodology is experimental in design with data from both beneficiary and non-beneficiary households, the comparison of which will serve as the basis for measuring the benefits and costs of such programmes. The article analyzes three censuses of Malaybalay, Bukidnon, from 1998 to 1996, in which more than 65 per cent of the households were identified as family planning (FP) users. In this case, the relevant comparison is not only between those using or not using family planning, but also, most especially, between those receiving them from the public programmes or from private sources. Household data in Malaybalay confirm a decline in fertility of about 2 per cent on average in the public FP users compared with the privately sourced household FP users and non-users from 2008 to 2010. The consequences of the programme on a series of family welfare outcomes are then estimated, in addition to fertility: women's and children's health (measured using the incidence of death), ownership of house and lot, engagement of mothers in the labour market and finally the schooling of children. Within the three years being analyzed, many of these indicators of the welfare of women and their children improve slightly but significantly, in conjunction with the other health and social programmes of the city. The cost-benefit analysis show that, overall, the return of investment is 56 per cent, implying that for every peso spent on FP-MRH programmes, 56 centavos worth of savings can be used in other programmes. This suggests that the social returns to reproductive health programmes in the cities have many facets beyond fertility reduction but are also seen to be dependent on the existence of these other development programmes. Furthermore, the nascent success of these programmes provides the rationale for greater national support.