Jakarta – Family planning programs are an unfamiliar service among city residents, especially among the poor, with an observer warning of the looming phenomenon of a lost generation.

Mersanah, 44, is the breadwinner in her family. She lives in the poverty-stricken Beting Remaja kampung, Tugu Utara, North Jakarta, and has never heard of the once widespread government-run family planning program.

"These services didn't exist [during my productive years]," the mother of seven admitted.

Looking older than her actual age, Mersanah struggles to make ends meet, earning only Rp 20,000 (US$2.18) a day, while her 55-year-old husband occasionally scavenges, but more often just stays at home "because he is old".

Her family is one of 720 in Beting Remaja. The kampung was recently under intense media spotlight following reports of child trafficking as a result of poverty.

Mersanah said poverty forced her to marry off her first four children, all daughters, at very early ages.

"They had only finished elementary school. It was better for them to get married," she told The Jakarta Post recently, saying that she now only had to provide for her three sons. "We eat rice with crackers and soy sauce most of the time," she said.

If anyone in her family falls ill, Mersanah can only afford to buy over-the-counter drugs from a nearby kiosk.

Despite her impoverished state, Mersanah manages to send all her sons to school, two to junior high and one to elementary school.

Her neighbor, Rita, carrying her child on her back, said she signed up for the family planning program but she did not take contraception pills regularly and was afraid to take hormonal contraception injections.

"I now have six children," Rita, 39, said. She also complained about the price she pays for the program, Rp 13,000 for every three months.

"My husband is a bus conductor, but he suffers from tuberculosis. He cannot work too hard so we have to survive with very little money," Rita said, adding that he only earned between Rp 50,000 and Rp 100,000 a week. Rita had to send one of her children to live with her aunt in Bali.

Her children are between 2-and-a-half and 12 years old, with three attending elementary school. "I would be grateful if I could afford to send my children to high school," she said.

University of Indonesia demographer Mayling Oey-Gardiner said the increase number of people living below the poverty line was caused by difficult access to family planning.

"There are too many people who are ignored by the government," she said.

"These people don't necessarily want lots of children, but they live in poverty and do not have access to healthcare and education. The government should provide them with a free birth control program."

She said the rising number of poor people could create a lost generation in impoverished communities.