Promoting family planning for better health: policy and programme implications

Renewed emphasis is being given to the role of family planning health care programs. This review of the lessons learned during the past decade provides guidance to policy makers and program managers on ways to improve maternal, infant, and child health through family planning and related health and development activities. It covers policies and laws, accessibility to services, acceptability and quality of services, provision for the special needs of high-risk groups, the use of communications programs, the importance of improving the status of women and the quality of life, and the resources needed to implement such a program globally. Practical steps for integrating family planning fully into maternal and child health care are described.

The relationship between sex roles, fertility, and family size preferences

Interviews regarding sex-role attitudes, sex-role behaviors, fertility, and fertility preferences were conducted with 583 currently married women aged 18 through 49. Separate correlational analyses for blacks, Anglos, and Hispanic women revealed that for Anglos and blacks sex-role attitudes appeared to be more highly associated with children raised and desired fertility than did division of household tasks and decisions. Past and present role behavior outside of the family (i.e., employment experience) were related to fertility and fertility preferences for all three groups. A path analysis, applied for Anglos only, indicated that number of children raised may influence sex-role behavior and attitudes which, in turn, may influence current fertility desires. However, the variable with the largest direct effect on total children desired was the number of children one already has. Various dimensions of sex roles influenced fertility desires in different ways. Traditionalism of attitudes had a positive effect while relative performance of feminine tasks had a negative effect on total number of children wanted.

Beijing Declaration, 25 September 1987

This Declaration aims to do the following: "Decrease the annual population growth rate in the Asian region to 1% by the year 2000; decrease mortality rates, specifically infant mortality, throughout the region by 50% by 2000; effect a balanced distribution of population in Asian countries through policies designed to accommodate urban growth and stem rural-to-urban migration; devise mechanisms that can serve as alternatives for the extended family in providing social, economic and psychological security for Asia's aging population; improve the status of women and their health, education and employment and create public awareness and acceptance of the changing role of women in Asia and of its social, political and cultural implications; and observe an appropriate date in 1988 as the "Day of Three Billion" with a view to informing every Asian family of the necessity, urgency and significance of the population issues in the region." The Declaration also urges the governments of Asian countries to allocate an adequate share of their national resources to meet the needs of family planning and other programs that have a bearing on population.