 Elisha P. Renne, Lecturer, Woodrow Wilson School, Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-2091. In this article, local perceptions of family planning programs and federal population policy are examined, based on responses to a childbirth survey and on interviews with a range of individuals in one northern Nigerian town. The respondents’ differing perceptions of the relationship between population and national development reflect distinctive ideas about political authority, population policy, and family planning programs, about development, and about domestic and international political affairs. Local suspicions about the Nigerian population policy and family planning programs suggest that they cannot be implemented in isolation from broader political and economic concerns. This distrust has ramifications for current family planning programs and reproductive health initiatives undertaken by Western-sponsored aid projects. (Studies in Family Planning 1996; 27,3: 127–136)
John A. Ross, Senior Fellow, The Futures Group, 80 Glastonbury Boulevard, Glastonbury, CT 06033–4409. W. Parker Mauldin, Senior Adjunct Associate, Research Division, The Population Council. In this article, time trends and differentials for family planning program effort are presented for most developing countries for 1972, 1982, 1989, and 1994. Overall program effort for the developing world increased sharply from 1972 to 1982, and again from 1982 to 1989, but only modestly thereafter. Some countries had already reached ceiling levels. A few with very low fertility rates deliberately weakened their programs, and other programs deteriorated for reasons that are unclear. On the other hand, within the small overall rise, numerous countries with weak programs improved their scores substantially. Regions with the lowest 1989 ratings improved the most, mainly on policy positions, and they improved least on availability of contraceptive methods. The relationship of program strength to socioeconomic setting has steadily weakened across the 22-year period studied. The stronger programs overall are stronger on essentially all 30 features of effort. Programs that have improved over the years have changed to resemble the profiles of the stronger programs. (Studies in Family Planning 1996; 27,3: 137–147)
ReportsRose Maria Li, Health Scientist Administrator (Demographer) and Susan F. Newcomer, Statistician/Demographer, Center for Population Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, 6100 Executive Boulevard, Room 8B13, Bethesda, MD 20892. Never-married women have been regularly excluded in official national surveys of fertility in China, even in light of evidence of increasing premarital sexual activity. Likewise, never-married women in the United States were consistently excluded from national fertility surveys prior to 1982 because of the perceived sensitivity of questions about contraceptive use and sexual activities. Data on sexual and fertility behavior from all women of reproductive age, regardless of marital status, can provide direct measures of sexual activity and unintended pregnancies, as well as facilitate modeling of social networks underlying the sexual transmission of diseases. China's need for such information, however sensitive, will become more difficult to ignore given increasing pressures to attend to the health needs of their never-married but sexually active population. (Studies in Family Planning 1996; 27,3: 148–154)
Dale Huntington, Deputy Director, Asia and Near East Operations and Technical Assistance Project, and Barbara Mensch, Associate, Research Division, The Population Council. Vincent Miller, Data Management Analyst for the Programs and Research Divisions, The Population Council at the time of this project. Underreporting of induced abortion in survey research is a ubiquitous problem. The use of an indirect interview technique in which questions were asked about abortion in the context of unwanted pregnancy was described earlier as holding promise for increasing the response rate. This report reviews the mixed results from multicountry studies that used the indirect technique. Exploratory qualitative studies are needed to identify a setting-specific context for discussing abortion. Because the subject of induced abortion is inherently sensitive, survey measurement of this practice is less precise than that of other, less controversial maternal health-care practices. This lack of precision should not deter the pursuit of the study of this critically important public-health-care concern. (Studies in Family Planning 1996; 27,3: 155–161)
Kristin A. Cooney, Associate Director, Miriam H. Labbok, Director, and Elisa Ballard, formerly Research Analyst, Breastfeeding and MCH Division, Institute for Reproductive Health, Georgetown University Medical Center, Department of OB/GYN, 2115 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20007. Thérèse Nyirabukeye, National Coordinator and P. Henryk Hoser, former Director, Secretariat National d'Action Familiale Rwandaise, Kigali, Rwanda. This report presents a secondary data analysis based on prospectively collected records gathered during a field assessment that was carried out in Rwanda in August 1993. The assessment used service statistics and follow-up interviews to evaluate the efficacy of a modified lactational amenorrhea method (LAM) as a nine-month introductory postpartum natural family planning method. The program, carried out by Action Familiale Rwandaise (AFR), reflects high efficacy of the method in a compliant sample that sought this method followed by another form of family planning. These results are promising and provide guidance for the extended use of LAM past six months. Programmatic findings suggest that studies be conducted of the contribution of extended LAM to improved weaning practices, the high efficacy of continued reliance on substantial lactation and amenorrhea beyond nine months, and male involvement in LAM and breastfeeding. (Studies in Family Planning 1996; 27,3: 162–171)
Data - Bolivia 1994: Results from the Demographic and Health Survey
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