PIP: In 1976 the United Nations's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific launched a comparative study on integrated family planning programs in a number of countries in the region. In November 1979 the study directors from the participating countries meet in Bangkok to discuss the current status of the studies in their countries. The Korean and Malaysian studies were completed, the Bangladesh study was in the data collecting phase, and the Pakistani research design phase was completed. The meeting participants focused their attention on the findings and policy implications of the 2 completed studies and also discussed a number of theorectical and methodological issues which grew out of their research experience. The Malaysian study indicated that group structure, financial resources, and the frequency and quality of worker-client contact were the most significant variables determining program effectiveness. In the Korean Study, leadership, financial resources, and the frequency and quality of contact between agencies were the key variables in determining program effectiveness. In the Malaysian study there was a positive correlation between maternal and child health service performance measures and family planning service performance measures. This finding supported the contention that these 2 types of service provision are not in conflict with each other but instead serve to reinforce each other. Policy implications of the Korean study were 1) family planning should be an integral part of all community activities; 2) family planning workers should be adequately supported by financial and supply allocations; and 3) adequate record keeping and information exchange procedures should be incorporated in the programs.
PIP:
The International Fertility Research Program is carrying out several studies focused on breastfeeding's contraceptive protection. A longitudinal study is investigating the relationship between breastfeeding and the return of ovulation and fertility after childbirth. The impact of factors such as the early introduction of supplementary foods, resumption of menses, and sexual practices on the return of ovulation will be analyzed. The study, which will be conducted at 4 geographic sites, will include a total of 100 women who are breastfeeding and a control group of 40 nonlactating mothers. Its ultimate goal will be to determine the optimum time for breastfeeding women with different cultural needs to start using contraceptives. A second study will seek to determine whether progestogen-only oral contraceptives (OCs) have advantages for lactating women. Trials in India, Malaysia, Argentina, and Egypt will compare 1000 lactating women who use progestogen-only OCs with an equal number of women who use nonhormonal contraception in terms of contraceptive acceptance and side effects and infant weight gain. The third study will survey breastfeeding patterns in relation to changing child spacing trends in a sample of 4000 women from Lagos, Nigeria. Analyzed will be the proportions of women who are using a modern method of fertility control, the proportions protected from unwanted pregnancy by the traditional practices of prolonged breastfeeding and sexual abstinence, and determinants of recent changes in the prevalence and duration of breastfeeding.
This paper investigates the structure of the relationship between female education and fertility. It is based on data published in First Country Reports of the World Fertility Surveys for eleven countries--Costa Rica, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Panama, Fiji, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Indonesia. The cumulative marital fertility of educated women is shown to be similar in different settings. A lack of uniformity in the education and fertility relationship including the curvilinear nature of this relationship observed across countries is shown to be attributable to marked differences between countries in the average fertility of women with no education rather than to the presumed differences in the average fertility of the educated women. The structure of the relationship is shown to be similar across several developing countries. This analysis suggests that advancement in female education can be expected to influence fertility behavior even without simultaneous changes in other factors such as increasing opportunity for participation in the paid labor force in the modern sector.
Despite being part of one of the few remaining primitive areas of the world, both Sabah and Sarawak are provided with adequate, though simple, urban and rural general medical services. At present no reliable data on the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases in these areas have been collected and no organised treatment services are available. Gonorrhoea appears to be the commonest notifiable infectious disease in Sarawak, and beta-lactamase-producing strains have been isolated. Because of the rapidly expanding economy and the encouragement of the tourist trade, sexually transmitted disease is likely to prove an increasing problem, for which a specialised service for diagnosis and treatment is badly needed.
A Population Oratorical Competition between upper secondary pupils aimed at getting students interested in population problems will be held in Johore from May to June. The competition will be launched on 20th May 1981 in Segamat by En. Nordin bin Nazir the Deputy Director of Education, Johore. 81 secondary schools will be sending 184 students to participate at this oratorical competition. The Districts of Kluang, Segamat, Batu Pahat, Muar and Johore Bahru will send students who will face an elimination round during the 1st stage of the competition. The competition is jointly organized by the State Education Department and the National Family Planning Board with a funding support of $3500 from the National Family Planning Board. The Director-General, National Family Planning Board Malaysia, Datin Dr. Hajjah Nor Laily Aziz is scheduled to officiate at the opening ceremony and to give away the prizes on 27th June 1981.