Data sheet charts family planning progress
Population Today 25(6): 5
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0749-2448 PMID: 12320944 Document Number: 268638
"Monitoring Family Planning Programs 1996," a wallchart produced by the Carolina Population Center at the University of Chapel Hill in collaboration with the Population Reference Bureau, compiles most of the available data regarding family planning programs in 96 developing countries and presents the evaluation indicators in a comparative overview. Data on government spending, types of services available, facilities, and the number of new contraceptive users served each year are included. Key findings include the following information. Although most governments are concerned about high birth rates (80% of governments in Africa and over 50% of governments in Latin America), West Asian governments (Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, and Syria) consider the high fertility rates there to be satisfactory and have not promoted family planning. In East Asia, where family planning has been established for decades, fertility has decreased below replacement level. In spite of governmental concern, family planning effort lags in many countries; of the 95 countries with family planning effort scores, only 41 received moderate or strong scores (50-92% of the maximum score possible). These included 62% of Latin American countries, 23% of African countries, and just over 50% of Asian countries. National and international spending is often insufficient. The highest annual per capita expenditure by a government on family planning services occurs in Mauritius (US $1.65 per person); Afghanistan, Brazil, the Congo, Honduras, Iran, Paraguay, Uganda, and Zaire spend less than US $0.01 per person. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mauritius, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe spend a total per capita, from all sources, of US $1 or more. Almost 50% of the married women in developing countries use a modern form of contraception; 17% of married women of reproductive age in Africa do so (11% in sub-Saharan Africa, and 36% in North Africa). Contraceptive prevalence in Latin America is 53%; in Asia it ranges from 34% in South Central Asia to 78% in East Asia. Service providers may be too few in number. The ratio of married women, ages 15-44, per staff member ranges from 111,235 in the Ivory Coast to 109 in Viet Nam. Of the 38 countries that have more than 1000 women per staff member, 16 are in Africa, 12 are in Latin America, and 10 are in Asia.