Costs and benefits of children: implications for population policy

Family size preferences are strongly affected by parents' perceptions of the value, economic contributions, and costs of children. Better understanding of these factors can help policy-makers to improve the effectiveness of population IEC campaigns, design strategies to persuade couples to have smaller families, assess the relationship between economic development and family size preferences, and devise national population policies and family planning programs that reflect individual choices. Parents in high-fertility countries are more likely to perceive children as productive investments than those in low-fertility countries. Parents in the former countries maintain children are an economic advantage or provide practical assistance in the household; they are less likely to emphasize the psychological advantages of children. As economic development occurs, and parents no longer value children for their economic contributions, psychological and social reasons become more important. Changing fertility preferences is more complex than providing couples with family planning services. Similarly, efforts to persuade families that large families are a burden are successful only when families are already interested in reducing their family size. Efforts to persuade couples to have smaller families are likely to be more successful if there are alternative sources of old-age support available, for example, from increased household savings, public or private pensions, or greater contributions from 1st and 2nd children. Investments in education and training, especially for women and children, would also support these goals.     

Publicity and education on family planning information in Keshan County

In 1984 the Keshan (Northeast China) County Government and the Family Planning Committee initiated an education campaign to disseminate family planning information to farmers. The team of propagandists consisted primarily of full-time family planning workers. Village cadres, school teachers, and rural physicians, who are properly educated and positive about family planning work, enjoy high prestige among the workers. They were invited to be team members after training and are supported by the villagers because they come from among the local people. All the childbearing women aged 15-49 in each village were classified by the propagandist into 5 groups according to their marital and childbearing status, i.e., women at the age of puberty, women of new marriage, pregnant and lying-in women, women with children to be reared, and middle-age and old women. The women were organized into groups to attend lectures on different subjects such as population policy, relationship between population growth and socioeconomic development on the 1 hand and individuals and environment on the other. Also included were physiology, the health birth and rearing of children, and health care for women and the aged. The publicity effort included broadcasting, films, video aids, and slide shows. Increased classs were during the slack seasons, and lectures were given once a week. By 1986, about 80% of the population at childbearing age in Keshan County had attended the family planning lectures.     

Increasing contraceptive use in Bangladesh: The role of demand and supply factors

This article analyzes the determinants of contraceptive use in Bangladesh, focusing on the roles of demand for additional children and of family planning service supply. Data from the Matlab Family Planning Health Services Project are used to examine the contributions of these factors to the difference in prevalence of modern contraceptive use between the project area and a control area served by the government family planning and health programs. Results of multivariate analysis deriving from the Easterlin synthesis framework show the importance of family planning supply factors in reducing psychic and resource costs of fertility regulation and in activating latent demand for contraception. Demand for birth limiting and for birth spacing emerge as important explanatory factors; demand for birth spacing is greater in the project area, and both demand measures exert a stronger effect on contraceptive behavior in that area.     

Indonesia: family planning target stepped up for 1980; twofold success of integrated project

The recruitment of 3 million additional family planning acceptors for the fiscal year 1979/80 was the target of Indonesia's family planning program. Available data shows that Indonesia was the 1st country in the world to have consumed 200 million cycles of contraceptive since the program's inception 9 years ago. The achievement of a lower birth rate of between 20 and 22 per 1000 (present rate is approximately 38/1000) is possible within the next 10 years should the program maintain its present pace. Education of women; health of pregnant mothers, and nutrition of children are factors which strongly affect family planning. Current conditions are such that 30% of children aged 0 to 6 years and a large proportion of mothers are malnourished. A coordinated family planning-rural development project launched by the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association and Indonesian Women's Association was launched 2 years ago and has proved successful. The project's core activity is the organization of income-generating projects such as poultry-raising, vegetable cultivation, handicrafts and small industries. Family planning and other health measures (eg, environmental sanitation) were also promoted. The project utilized selected cadres of married women who were then trained in community development. These women became trainers in their own villages. The project proved to be successful in terms of income-generating activities for the women and in terms of gaining 623 new family planning acceptors within a period of 5 months.     

Deworming/family planning project launched on estate

A deworming/family planning project funded by JOICFP was successfully initiated in Kerling Estate, Kuala Kubu Bahru, Malaysia. Rapport between estate management, workers, and the National Family Planning Board helped establish the project. A recent Gotong-Royong or community self-help project had encouraged enthusiasm among workers to clean up the estate. Mothers were exhorted to plan their families and devote attention to the health and welfare of the children. The need for parents to understand the causes of infestation and educate their children to wear slippers or shoes and develop good toilet habits was emphasized by Dr. Nor Laily Aziz. Continuing National Family Planning Board and Government support was pledged.     

India: New family planning program direction outlined

The focus of the current Family Welfare Program in India is education and active community involvement rather than coercion and compulsion. The government is totally committed to the program and has indicated that it will spare no efforts to motivate people to voluntarily accept family planning. However, there is a need for family planning efforts to include all aspects of family welfare, particularly those designed to promote the health of mothers and children. All family planning methods will be made available, and the family will be free to choose the method they prefer. As part of the program, employees of the Union government, State governments, autonomous and local bodies are expected to set an example and adopt the small family norm. The policy statement made by Mr. Raj Narain, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, revealed the government's decision not to legislate, either at the national or the State level, for compulsory sterilization. Sterilization services will be available free of charge to those who voluntarily choose this method. A plan for training indigenous midwives will be implemented as part of the program in order that maternity services may be available to all expectant mothers. Additionally, in recognition of the direct correlation between illiteracy and fertility and between infant/maternal mortality and age at marriage, the government will introduce legislation to raise the minimum age at marriage to 18 years for girls and to 21 years for boys. The plan is for trade unions, Chambers of Commerce, cooperative societies, women's organizations, teachers' federation, district councils, and other voluntary institutions to be associated intimately with the educational campaign launching the Family Welfare Program.     

Current status of and prospects for China Population Information Centre

The China Population information Centre (CPIC), set up in May 1980, is a national institution for population information research under the State Family Planning Commission. Its main functions are to 1) collect, process, and distribute and foreign materials on population and family planning; 2) collect, tabulate, and analyze population and family planning data; 3) keep abreast of new population and family planning developments within and outside the country; 4) edit and publish information materials; and 5) provide information users with diversified services. The CPIC has 8 operational units: 1) the Library, 2) the Statistics Division, 3) the 1st Information Research Division, 4) the 2nd Information Research Division, 5) the Editorial Division, 6) the Translation Division, 7) the Computer Division, and 8) the Technical Support Division.     

Desired family size in Thailand: Are the responses meaningful?

Data for both rural and urban women in Thailand indicate that the large majority of respondents are able to provide numerical responses to questions on desired family size. Although there is evidence that some women tend to rationalize the number of children they have when stating the number they would want if they were recently married, the vast majority of respondents prefer a number which is different from the number of living children they had at the time of the interview. Women who had already reached or exceeded their desired number were almost universal in stating they wanted no additional children, whereas only a minority of women who had yet to reach their desired family size said they wanted no more children. Finally, the proportion of women who practiced family planning is substantially greater among women who had already achieved or exceeded their desired family size than among women who had fewer than their desired number. The results thus suggest that, in Thailand at least, responses to family size preferences need to be interpreted with caution but nevertheless can be of use to the population analyst.     

Iud retention in West Pakistan and methodology of assessment

In 1967 there was a sample survey of women who had had IUD insertions in West Pakistan during the first 18 months of the Pakistan National Family Planning Program which began in July, 1965. The 12 month retention rate, including reinsertions, per 100 respondents was 56. Certain gross relationships between respondent characteristics and IUD retention were found. Respondents age 35+ and with 5+ living children and respondents who had insertions within two months postpartum had relatively high retention rates. Respondent characteristics associated with low retention rates included: age 35+ with 0–4 living children; reasons other than family planning reported as reasons for insertion; less than one-half hour travel time required to obtain insertion; not informed at time of insertion about side-effects of IUD; and insertion during last six months of 1966. Consistency of response was evaluated by reinterviewing a sample of respondents. The significance of the 43 percent non-response rate was evaluated by making further attempts to interview a sample of non-respondents.     

The jeepney driver: ally in family planning

Report of a project involving jeepney drivers as distributors of family planning information in the Philippines, implemented by the United Neighbors Philippines (UNP). This organization had previously experimented with using barbers and beauticians as distributors but lack of organization on their part led to difficulties. An experiment which used Protestant pastors had to be abandoned for lack of funds. The current program involves the 200-member jeepney driver's association in Cubao, Quezon City. A box of family planning informational materials is placed in each vehicle, within research of passengers. Materials include referral sheets entitling holders to free supplies (chiefly pills) at family planning clinics along jeepney routes. Encouraging numbers of passengers turned in the sheets, and some 50-80% of drivers themselves began to practice family planning. The project has since been expanded under the auspices of an 800-member driver's association in the Sta. Mesa area. Drivers in this project will undergo a 3-day paid training period, which will include information on location and facilities of family planning services along their routes.     

Integrated family planning/parasite control project: a different approach to community health problems

An obstacle to the acceptance of family planning is the fact that its advantages are not immediately apparent or tangible. A way to get around this obstacle is through the use of "entry points"--projects which yield tangible results in a relatively short time. Through these entry points, the fieldworker builds credibility and wins the confidence of the people in the community he or she is serving. Thus, when the time comes, the people will be receptive to the family planning message. This strategy of the use of entry points is common to integrated projects with a community development program becoming a sort of entry point for family planning fieldworkers. 1 such project, begun quite recently by the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP) in 4 pilot sites, uses deworming as an entry point. It is officially known as the Integrated Family Planning/Parasite Control/Nutrition Project. It is 1 of several projects cosponsored and financed by the Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning (JOICFP) and the Asian Parasite Control Organization (APCO) in almost a dozen other Asian and Latin American countries. The immediate objective of the project is to establish or increase the credibility of family planning fieldworkers among the people in a target area. Fieldwork connected with family planning is conducted alongside a related community health effort that can produce immediate and visible results. The ultimate goal is to encourage community participation to such an extent that there will no longer be a need for the fieldworker. Strategic planning involves thinking up the "backbone" and molding the "skeleton" of the project, i.e., its concept and basic policies. As the project goes into the design and development stage, additional people are drawn into it. Project experience in Thailand underscores the need to consult with local leaders. The earliest projects were initiated in 1976, but some are already showing successful results. The overall Philippine experience provided support to JOICFP Director Kunii's reiteration of his belief in the effectivity of parasite control as an entry point for population planners. Integration of the nutrition element in the project is regarded as essential.     

China's first family planning publicity month

China conducted its 1st nationwide Family Planning Publicity Month in 1983, from New Year's Day to Spring Festival (February 13). The campaign emphasized the rural areas and focused on explaining why family planning is a state policy. The most noticeable achievements of this campaign were that every household became familiar with the fact that family planning is a basic state policy. The majority of the population take this policy seriously, realizing that strict control of population growth is both a good and imperative policy. More than 1,830,000 propaganda columns and photo exhibitions were displayed, 5,900,000 radio and television programs broadcast, 2,010,000 theatrical performances, movie and slide showings presented, and 97,000,000 copies of materials published for public dissemination. The activities were varied and interesting, vivid and lively, and purposeful and persuasive. 1 of the most effective methods of publicizing population control has been the presentation of comparative statistics. This aspect of the campaign was a specific and lively form of education in population theory and practice. The presentation of statistics that show the relationship among population, land use, grain produce, and income enabled the population to reason out why population growth needs to match economic and social development. Another important accomplishment of the publicity month was that a large number of couples of reproductive age became convinced of the need to use contraception. According to the incomplete statistics, 8,860,000 people had surgical operations for birth control. The universal promotion of ligations by either partner of a reproductive couple who already had given birth to a 2nd child was an important development of family planning technique promoted simultaneously with the promotion of IUDs. The increase in the number of people doing family planning work was another achievement of the publicity month. More than 15,240,000 publicity personnel and 760,000 medical personnel were trained. The enthusiasm of the Party and the people contributed to the success of the publicity month. The success of the publicity month is inseparable from the achievements and experience gained through China's longterm pursuit of family planning.     

Integrating parasite control and family planning

A pilot project started recently in 4 locations by the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines in cooperation with the Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning and the Asian Parasite Control Organization uses de-worming as an entry point to establish credibility for family planning workers among the target population. The ultimate goal of the project is to encourage community participation to such an extent that family planning and related efforts are sustained by the community itself and the field worker is no longer needed. Integrated parasite control/family planning projects have already gone through the 4 principal developmental stages of strategic planning, project design and development, implementation and assessment, and program maintenance in some areas since their beginnings in 1976. Support for such programs has been obtained from 3 international bodies working in family planning, and 2 others have recently indicated interest. Activities to develop criteria for project expansion are now underway. The 4 projects in the Philippines, located in Binakayan, Cavite; San Pedro, Laguna; Caramoan, Camarines Sur; and Davao City, are each staffed by a project manager, doctors, nurses, and medical technologists. The projects, especially the Caramoan project, have been quite successful, and efforts are being made to include nutrition in the integrated program.     

Peers and Fertility Preferences: An Empirical Investigation of the Role of Neighbours,Religion and Education

Individual fertility preference is influenced by observed social norms. The present paper investigates the effect of the observed fertility of peers on a woman’s fertility preference. We explore the role of two peer groups: neighbourhood peers and religious peers. Data from the National Family Health Surveys (1992–1993, 1998–1999 and 2005–2006) in India is employed for empirical estimations using a multinomial logit model. We find that both neighbourhood and religious peers have a significant impact on individual fertility preferences, but their relative importance changes with family size. An increase in peer fertility increases the probability of preferring more children. We further examine the roles of education and wealth as transmission channels between the fertility norms of peers to the fertility preferences of the women and find that education plays an important role in moderating peer influences. These findings can serve as vital inputs in formulating family planning and gender policies.     

To the barrios] The new course charted by the national population program

In order to reduce the Philippine birthrate to 2% by 1980, the number of rural women practicing contraception must be trebeled. To facilitate such an effort, a large-scale reorganization and reorientation in all areas of family planning activity--delivery, training, research, information, education, and communication--is proposed, shifting the delivery of family planning services from clinics to the 36,000 barrio bases. A goal of 16,000 extension workers in family planning is set for 1976; these workers will be the ones to make the initial contacts with potential acceptors. Then full-time family planning workers will try to make potential acceptors into bonefide ones, giving advice or prescribing the method and providing follow-up. Family planning workers will be supervised by nurses and midwives in health stations, who in turn will be supervised by the physician in the rural health unit. Acceptability among community residents is the most vital characteristic of a family planning worker, with the country's 27,000 hilots (birth attendents) seen as leading candidates. Attracting and training manpower in the field is a major challenge, as is lack of personnel in the area of research. Several possible avenues for the development of research interest and manpower for the population program are explored.     

Central Mindanao: selling family planning informally

A research study was conducted in Central Mindanao, Philippines, to evaluate the effectiveness of " selling" informally the idea of family planning to potential acceptors. The study, entitled "the Extent of Involvement of Satisfied Acceptors Clubs/Satisfied Users Clubs" was conducted for the regional office of the Commission on Population (Popcom) by the Notre Dame University Socioeconomic Research Center in Cotabato City. Organized by fulltime outreach workers (FTOWs), the clubs are concerned primarily with the promotion of family planning. The first such club in the region was organized in 1979. Currently, the clubs are linked with other development agencies. The study's respondents were 200 continuing users of a family planning method and were members of the clubs in Illigan City and Cotabato City. Respondents were mostly women (191 or 95.5%), in their early 30s (31%), had 4 children on the average, had reached high school, and belonged to low income families. On the average, respondents had been practicing family planning for around 4 years and 7 months. They were aware of or knowledgeable about the condom, oral contraception (OC), IUDs, rhythm, tubal ligation, vasectomy, and withdrawal. Some of them were aware of injection, abstinence, foam, and the diaphragm. The majority of respondents indicated they had tried other family planning methods before changing to the method they were using. The primary reason for method change was the desire to use a more effective method. The respondents became club members either by being recruited or by applying for membership on their own. Motivating clients to practice contraception was the club's primary activity. 133 club members (66.5%) "claimed to have successfully motivated persons/couples to practice family planning." Among the problems encountered by the clubs, the indifference of people toward the family planning program appeared to bethe most serious from the respondents' perspective. Inactivity of some members was cited as the 2nd most serious problem. The study concluded that despite problems the clubs had been "fairly successful" in helping Popcom promote family planning.     

Sarikaya: toward community self-reliance in health and family planning

The Sarikaya Project of the Philippine Ministry of Health's National Family Planning Office was conceived as an innovative approach to providing information, education, and communication on health, nutrition, and family planning using the services of neighborhood leaders who can gain the cooperation and participation of community members in health and family planning programs. The Sarikaya worker (SW) serves as the link between the community and the Ministry of Health. Selection of SWs is a collaborative effort of the Barangay Health Service midwife, the community, and the barangay council. SWs are trained by the BHS midwife in a 5-day seminar which includes an orientation to the role and function of the Sarikaya Project, health and family planning IEC, and 1st aid. SWs undertake activities in family planning, maternal and child health, nutrition, environmental sanitation, communicable disease control, and emergency treatment. As volunteers, the SWs receive no compensation except for a nominal training allowance. The SW relies on the BHS midwife for technical and logistical support, on the health committee of the barangay council for coordination and administrative support, and on informal community leaders for guidance and advice. Pilot testing of the sarikaya project was undertaken in 1979, when 241 workers were trained. Results of early evaluations were encouraging, and plans were made to expand the project in 1980.     

1990 censuses to increase use of automation

This article summarizes information from selected reports presented at the 12th Population Census Conference. Ward reports that plans for the 1990 census in many countries of Asia and the Pacific call for increased use of automation, with applications ranging from the use of computer-generated maps of enumeration areas and optical mark readers for data processing to desktop publishing and electronic mail for disseminating the results. Recent advances in automation offer opportunities for improved accuracy and speed of census operations while reducing the need for clerical personnel. Most of the technologies discussed at the 12th Population Census are designed to make the planning, editing, processing, analysis, and publication of census data more reliable and efficient. However, technology alone cannot overcome high rates of illiteracy that preclude having respondents complete the census forms themselves. But it enables even China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan - the countries with huge population and limited financial resources - to make significant improvements in their forthcoming censuses.     

Premarital information efforts under way

Premarital couples are among priority targets of family planning information in the Philippines national population program as they can serve a pivotal role in slowing population growth. Applicants for marriage licenses are required to attend a family planning session as a prerequisite. Following recommendations of a training effort and seminar on Premarital Family Planning Counseling, on July 20, 1976, premarital information was institutionalized in the country by Presidential DEcree 965 which made family planning counseling obligatory to the marriage license applicants. Shortly after that, a multiagency effort gathered information on the status of the Premarital information program in the Philippines, which showed that there is no full-time specialist for the work. Medical officers; social workers; community welfare supervisors; and program and training officers do this work of information in addition to their usual duties. Distribution of the applicants varied greatly in age groups, educational levels, and professional category. The size of the group, length of session and topics of discussion varied greatly. Necessary efforts should be made to solve the major problems by selecting better sites for group sessions and training more personnel for the purpose. There is a great need fordeveloping more effective and research oriented information, education and communication materials, according to the needs and cultural traits of the target audience.     

Sex ratio at birth: Values,variance, and some determinants

This paper examines the values, variance and some possible determinants of sex ratios for the first child and for all children in expected and desired families. For adults in Tallahassee, Florida, it was found that a large majority of respondents within sixty demographic categories chose males for their first child. Of those who actually had girls for their first child, a plurality would, nevertheless, prefer a first boy in their desired family. It was hypothesized and demonstrated that sex-role ideologies were a strong predictor of variance in first-child sex preferences. Sex ratios for all children in expected and desired families were 116 and 113, respectively. If people could choose the sex of their future children, these data suggest that several population parameters might be significantly altered; a preliminary model is outlined which might project some of these changes.