Trends in the costs of the family planning program in Egypt. The costs of family planning activities which received funding from the public sector.

Population growth was acknowledged by the government of Egypt as an obstacle to development efforts. Accordingly the government adopted the policy goals of advancing maternal and child health literacy womens employment marriage age contraceptive prevalence and the effectiveness of contraceptive use. One of the family planning (FP) programs main goals has been to improve the accessibility and availability of contraceptive services. This objective has been successfully met with the proportion of married couples using contraception increasing from less than 30% during the 1980s to more than 47% in 1992. An analysis of cost data on the FP activities of 15 non-profit and 3 for-profit agencies receiving public sector funding during the 1988/89 1989/90 and 1990/91 fiscal years however revealed that total program costs have increased on average more than 27% annually and that contributions from the Egyptian government and donor agencies have covered almost 90% of program costs. Donor contributions have risen on average over 40% annually yet the absolute value of government contributions has increased annually at an average rate of only less than 10%. Demand for FP goods and services keeps expanding. In light of this trend and the growing tendency of donor nations and agencies to scale back the magnitude of their contributions Egypt must establish spending priorities and consider alternative approaches to sustaining its FP program. Investments in FP reduce the number of births and ultimately save government resources which would otherwise be allocated to educating and caring for a larger population. The introduction of Fp service fees in certain government-run facilities for those who can afford to pay should be seriously considered as a way of efficiently using government resources while equitably subsidizing those in need and minimizing subsidies for those who are willing and able to pay. The government could also take steps to encourage private sector production of FP commodities to meet consumer demand.