CONTENTS
HIGHLIGHTSPopulation Reports is published by the Population Information Program, Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4012, USA
December, 1997 |
Over the past 30 years, as family planning has become increasingly accepted and accessible, fertility levels and family size have fallen rapidly (see Chapter 1). Still, at least 100 million married women have unmet need for family planning—that is, they would prefer to avoid pregnancy but are not using any contraceptive method (79). Finding ways to serve these women better is one of the greatest challenges facing family planning programs (116, 120, 121, 133). Many women do not use contraception because they do not know enough about it, worry about its side effects, have other health concerns, or face disapproval from husbands and communities and may not feel free to act on their own preferences. (See Population Reports, J-43, Meeting Unmet Need: New Strategies, 1996.) Meeting much of the unmet need for family planning would reduce fertility in the developing world substantially. In sub-Saharan Africa, where fertility is high, meeting all unmet need could reduce fertility by an average of about one birth per woman and bring most countries 20% to 30% closer to replacement-level fertility (125). |