Reaching the hard to reach
Bhiwandi, P.; Campbell, M.; Potts, M.
People and the Planet 3(3): 13-15
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0968-1655 PMID: 12345832 DOI: 10.1300/j015v24n01_07Document Number: 290858
The draft plan of action prepared for the International Conference on Population and Development indicates that the number of couples using contraception in the developing world must rise from 550 million in 1995 to 880 million in 2015 if the envisaged reduction in unmet need is to take place. If this is to be done, alongside other improvements in reproductive health care, including measures to prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, the total cost of national population programmes is likely to rise to $17000 million in the year 2000 and $21700 million in 2015. How governments are going to serve these additional users of family planning, many of which are hard to reach in remote rural areas or in crowded shanty towns, is discussed. The paper highlights family planning services in various developing countries and looks at how they can influence fertility levels. The demand for family planning services is high and universal access to family planning could shift population projections much below the current projection.