A case study of Thailand on sterilization acceptance and its demographic impact
Leoprapai, B.
Journal of Thai Association for Voluntary Sterilization 1979: 66-78
1979
PMID: 12265370 Document Number: 420940
Results of various demographic studies indicate that sterilization may have been known and accepted as a method of contraception by Thai urban women for a long time. The extent of sterilization acceptance among Thai married couples, however, could not be determined until 1972, the year in which the Thailand National Family Planning Program was officially initiated. The program collects data on age, number of living children, and other characteristics of new contraceptive acceptors at participating public and private clinics. Since 1972, the trends of sterilization acceptance show that the number of sterilization acceptors has increased substantially over the 7-year period, from about 33,000 acceptors in 1972 to about 170,000 in 1978, representing an increase of about 5.2 times. Consequently, the role of sterilization as 1 contraceptive method in the Thai family planning program has increased. Its proportion of all new contraceptive acceptors increased from 7.2% in 1972 to about 18.9% in 1978. The average age and average number of living children of acceptors over the 1973-78 period also indicated a declining trend. The Standard Couple-Years of Protection Method was used to determine the demographic impact of sterilization acceptance. It was found that the number of births averted/acceptor in 1977 was about 1.77. Finally, it is suggested that for the purpose of determining the impact of sterilization and other contraceptive methods acceptance, only a few more categories of information on new acceptors must be collected by the family planning program. These data, supplemented by data from other sources and periodic demographic surveys, would be adequate for the purpose of assessing the demographic impact if they are tabulated in appropriate detail on a regular basis.