Birth-Based Approach to Family Planning: An Empirical Justification

Abstract

The international Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), convened in Cairo in September 1994 under the auspices of the Unite Nations, has changed the focus of family planning programs forever. Earlier, most of the countries that launched national programs of family planning did so with the intention of reducing the fertility levels and growth rates of their population. This was the main objective of family planning programs in developing countries. According to the recommendations contained in the Program of Action adopted at the end of the Cairo conference, family planning programs are to be viewed as part of the reproductive health activities of the State enabling couples to have their children as they desire in timing and number, and not as policy instruments of Government to reduce or manipulate the aggregate levels of fertility (United Nations 1995). The Cairo document recommends that all population programs including family planning programs should aim at respecting individual rights, women's right and reproductive rights and enhancing gender equality.