Population Planning Research Articles

"They are Coming in So Fast That if We Had Publicity About the Clinic We Would Be Swamped": Edris Rice-Wray, the First Family Planning Clinic in Mexico (1959), and the Intervention of US-Based Private Foundations

Population growth in the so-called third world countries became a cause for international concern at the dawn of the Cold War era. In this scenario, Mexico, whose total population doubled every twenty years, became one of the main preoccupations for the emergent global population control movement. While most accounts on the history of family planning in Mexico have tended to focus on the mid-1970s, when the government abandoned its pro-natalist stance, this article demonstrates that, by that time, American and Mexican actors had already launched a systematic effort to implement family planning programs. This work explores the history of the creation of Mexico's first family planning clinic, founded in 1959 by American doctor Edris Rice-Wray, and the subsequent development of national associations and programs that, with the support of the Population Council and the Ford Foundation, provided family planning services throughout the 1960s.

Eugenika w propozycjach legalizacji prawa do zdrowej reprodukcji

Artykuł demaskuje prowadzone od wielu lat starania ruchów demograficznych, kontroli urodzeń i tzw. wyzwolenia kobiet dotyczące zalegalizowania prawa do tzw. zdrowej reprodukcji. Prawo to, przyznane rodzicom, zmuszałoby lekarzy do śledzenia poprzez diagnostykę prenatalną wszelkich schorzeń w okresie prenatalnym oraz do eugenicznej, aborcyjnej eliminacji instytucjonalnej dotkniętych tymi schorzeniami.Tekst przywołuje również najnowsze projekty poszerzania prenatalnej selekcji eugenicznej. Są one propagowane przez bioetyków utylitarystycznych zalecających przeprowadzanie selekcji prenatalnej, manipulacji genetycznej czy aborcji w okresie prenatalnym w celu rodzenia jedynie zaprojektowanych najlepszych dzieci. Swoich zaleceń – rozpowszechnianych pod hasłem prokreatywnego dobrodziejstwa – nie tylko nie uważają oni za niemoralne, ale wprost przeciwne, propagują je jako moralny obowiązek rodziców. Rodzice ich zdaniem są moralnie zobowiązani do projektowania najlepszych dzieci, i w tym celu powinni mieć prawo do tzw. prokreatywnego dobrodziejstwa, czyli do ­eliminacji dzieci niespełniających ich oczekiwań.

Suspect sexualities: contextualizing rumours of homosexuality within colonial histories of population control

This article examines the widespread notion that homosexuality is ‘unAfrican’ in relation to a historical contextual factor that has been widely neglected within efforts to situate and make sense of this widespread notion: the legacy of western population control interventions in Africa and the anxieties, fears and suspicions that they have provoked. The article discusses the relevance of population control history within efforts to understand emerging forms of intolerance towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) people across the continent. Western population control interventions initiated after the official demise of colonial governments have provided a historical basis for suspicions and rumours about how the West continues to manipulate and control African communities despite the formal termination of colonial rule. While positivist western epistemic frameworks have largely constructed such suspicions as ‘irrational’ and as barriers to its development agendas, critical approaches have argued that they can provide critical insights into social imaginaries, particularly in relation to dynamics of power and inequality. In interrogating the suspicion that homosexuality is ‘unAfrican’ from a critical perspective, analysis considers the rise of the international population movement and history of population control agendas in African countries in order to open up new ways of understanding the historical contextual factors that have engendered rumours that homosexualiy is a western imposition. Discussion specifically considers rumours and suspicions that homosexuality is a form of population control which have been iterated by African thought and political leaders. The article also relates these discourses to the increasing influence of the US pro-family movement in African sexual politics. Analysis draws on discursive data that was collected through online ethnography and fieldwork as well as a critical review of literature examining population control agendas and rumours in Africa. This article concludes that the history of the international population control movement is directly implicated within contemporary stigma and scapegoating of LGBTIQ+ people in Africa. The persistence of the suspicion that homosexuality is ‘unAfrican’ can therefore be explained, in part, through its genealogy within longer standing awareness of western efforts to contain population growth across the continent.

GyanPrakashEmergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and India's Turning PointPrinceton: Princeton University Press, 2019. 439 pp. Index.

GyanPrakashEmergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and India's Turning PointPrinceton: Princeton University Press, 2019. 439 pp. Index.

“It is Under the Banner of the Defence of Human Rights that We Shall Gather Our Crusade”: Human Rights and the Population Control Movement from the 1940s to the 1970s

“It is Under the Banner of the Defence of Human Rights that We Shall Gather Our Crusade”: Human Rights and the Population Control Movement from the 1940s to the 1970s

The Origins of Family Planning in Tunisia: Reform, Public Health, and International Aid.

This article explores the origins of the national family planning program in Tunisia during the 1960s. It moves beyond previous interpretations of the global population control movement that emphasized external intervention at the hands of international organizations. Instead it analyzes the mutually beneficial partnership between Tunisian president Habib Bourguiba and the Population Council, an American organization committed to reducing population growth. Using Tunisian sources and Population Council records, it argues that after independence in 1956, Bourguiba sought to address France's underdevelopment of public health during the colonial period with robust reforms and international aid. Implementing a family planning program enabled Bourguiba to acquire resources that contributed to training Tunisian medical personnel, funding clinics and health services, and increasing the distribution and circulation of contraception. This article demonstrates that actors in the Global South were not mere beneficiaries of international health initiatives following decolonization; they were active participants and negotiators of their implementation at home.

Insights and efforts to control rabies in Zambia: Evaluation of determinants and barriers to dog vaccination in Nyimba district.

BackgroundThe current rabies control strategy in Zambia is based on dog vaccination, dog population control and dog movement restrictions. In Nyimba district of Zambia, dog vaccination coverage is low but the incidence of dog bites is high which places the community at risk of rabies infection. The renewed global interest eliminating rabies in developing countries has spurred interest to identify determinants and barriers of dog vaccination in an effort to reduce the overall disease burden.MethodologyA mixed methods cross sectional design was used in the study. This consisted of three parts: Evaluation of medical records regarding dog bite injuries, implementation and analysis of a household survey and in-depth review of key informant interviews. Data was collected into a Microsoft Excel database and subsequently transferred to STATA for descriptive, inferential and thematic analysis.ResultsDog vaccination coverage overall was 8.7% (57/655), with 3.4% (22/655) in urban areas, 1.8% (12/655) in peri-urban and 3.5 (23/655) in the rural regions. Financially stable households were more likely to have their dogs vaccinated. Only 10.3% (31/300) of the respondents had vaccinated their dogs and these had a reliable source of income as 6% (18/300) were peasant farmers, 2% (6/300) were dependants whose guardians were financially stable and 2.3% (7/300) were in steady employment. Important barriers to dog vaccination included cost, limited awareness of vaccination program and access.ConclusionCurrent rabies control strategies in Nyimba district, Zambia, appear quite limited. Improvements in the regional dog vaccination program may provide benefits. Enhancement of educational efforts targeting behavioural factors may also prove useful. Finally, the cost of dog vaccination can be reduced with scaled up production of a local vaccine.

Between the West and Asia: “Humanistic” Japanese Family Planning in the Cold War

This article studies the formation of Japanese ventures in family planning deployed in various villages in Asia from the 1960s onward in the name of development aid. By critically examining how Asia became the priority area for Japan's international cooperation in family planning and by analyzing how the adjective humanistic was used to underscore the originality of Japan's family planning program overseas, the article shows that visions of Japanese actors were directly informed by Japan's delicate position in Cold War geopolitics, between the imagined West represented by the United States and “underdeveloped” Asia, at a time when Japan was striving to (re)establish its position in world politics and economics. Additionally, by highlighting subjectivities and intra-Asian networks centered on Japanese actors, the article also aims to destabilize the current historiography on population control, which has hitherto focused either on Western actors in the transnational population control movement or on non-Western “acceptors” subjected to the population control programs.

Roe’s Race: The Supreme Court, Population Control, and Reproductive Justice

Questions of race and abortion have shaped current legal debates about defunding Planned Parenthood and banning race-selection abortion. In these discussions, abortion opponents draw a close connection between the eugenic or population control movements of the twentieth century and the contemporary abortion-rights movement. In challenging legal restrictions on abortion, abortion-rights activists generally insist that their movement and its predecessors have primarily privileged reproductive choice. Notwithstanding the centrality of race to abortion politics, there has been no meaningful history of the racial politics of abortion that produced or followed Roe v. Wade. This article closes this gap in the abortion discussion by focusing on the racial politics of abortion in the 1970s. In the 1970s, some population controllers did have ties to the eugenic legal reform movement or a particular interest in limiting the growth of poor, non-white populations. Those groups most closely involved with the abortion-rights movement, however, primarily focused on family planning for white, middle-class families, emphasizing the importance of environmental stewardship and sexual liberation. Arguments treating the abortion-rights, population control, and eugenics movements as indistinguishable from one another are flawed. At the same time, by reinterpreting Roe, feminists created new opportunities to reshape the racial politics of abortion. By defending their own understanding of the opinion against antiabortion attack, feminists were able to redefine abortion as a right that belonged to women irrespective of its political consequences. The article shows that, by grounding the discussion in proper historical context, discussion of race and abortion will be more principled and productive. Abortion opponents can fairly discuss the history of the family planning movement, but blurring any distinction between the abortion-rights movement and its predecessors is problematic and misleading. In turn, abortion-rights activists should address the past relevance of population-based claims, acknowledging the contributions of those who worked to redefine abortion as a woman’s right.

From population control to AIDS: Conceptualising and critiquing the global crisis model

This essay takes as its point of departure comparative analyses of the population control movement and the global AIDS response. We argue that the responses to both rapid population growth and AIDS reflect a particular model for approaching development issues: the global crisis model. This model provides a framework in which development issues become classified as (1) global in scope, (2) highly urgent and unique, (3) a threat to international stability and (4) addressable through a concerted global response. By reviewing the population control movement and the past, present and possible future of the AIDS response, we examine the evolution of the global crisis model and its consequences in shaping development priorities, problems and solutions. We argue that the model mobilises significant financial resources, but it skews the allocation of development assistance, creates narrow, technical interventions, and fails to examine or remedy the social inequalities that produce health and development disparities.

Verhütung als Mittel gegen Bevölkerungswachstum. Expertendiskussion und öffentliche Debatten in Westdeutschland in den 1960er Jahren

Theoretically, the introduction of the contraceptive pill in the 1960s created new possibilities to control population growth on a global scale. Several of those involved in developing the pill belonged to the transnational population control movement. In the Federal Republic, demographic and medical experts in the 1960s debated the advantages and dangers of the new contraceptive, and they argued about whether it could be of benefit in West Germany and/or in developing countries. The paper examines the contemporary debate about the pill and the role it was awarded in the effort to solve what was considered a global population problem.

The population revolution: from population policies to reproductive health and women's rights politics

This article utilizes an oral history resource to document the transformation of population policies into women's focused practices and the perception that guided the major actors of this local revolution. The Population Control movement has been a powerful political and health movement that developed family planning to reduce population growth during the Cold War era. It relied upon philanthropic commitment before successfully becoming an official US policy from Nixon to Reagan. The anti-abortion controversies and political conservatism then diminished considerably the global acceptance of population policies. The revolution in population policies demanded a patient effort to conquer strategic positions and to develop new policies. Women program officers played a central role, along with prominent political figures. Most of the transformation occurred at the Cairo conference in 1994, where moderate population experts and feminists came to a compromise. This study finally focuses on the repercussions of the new reproductive health agenda in the population field.

Family Planning: Between Rejection And Acceptance In Islam

Understanding the beliefs, traditions, norms and core values of individuals and communities is a crucial factor for health workers and policy makers to impact positively on their communities. This paper reviewed the historical development of family planning and the population control movements, the importance and Islamic perspectives/Muslims perceptions of the concepts. This review article emphasizes the need for a clear understanding of the Islamic perspective of family planning by health workers to assist them in developing and applying appropriate strategies for advocacy, sensitization and community mobilization for the acceptance and utilization of family planning services in predominant Muslim communities. Strategy for effective implementation of family planning programmes in predominant Muslim communities was carefully appraised. This discourse therefore was written to improve the knowledge and sharpen the skill of health workers who are likely to work in such communities for effective negotiation and application of appropriate strategies. Sahel Medical Journal Vol. 11 (2) 2008: pp. 41-44

Seeing beyond the State: The Population Control Movement and the Problem of Sovereignty

Seeing beyond the State: The Population Control Movement and the Problem of Sovereignty

Pension Valuation Under Uncertainties: Implementation of a Stochastic and Dynamic Monitoring System

AbstractFinancial soundness and funding stability are two critical issues in pension fund management. First, we construct a generalized stochastic model to monitor the solvency risk and cash flow dynamics of the defined benefit pension plan. A semi‐Markov process proposed by Dominicis et al. (1991) and Janssen and Manca (1997) is employed in structuring the transition pattern of the plan's population, and the economic‐based factors are generated through plausible stochastic processes. Modifications according to classification and movements of the plan member and the plan's turnover pattern are also employed to improve its practical usefulness. Then the actuarial valuations, cash flow analyses, and workforce projection are performed and investigated. Second, we explicitly formulate the plan dynamics and implement the proposed mechanism into a risk management framework for pension management. By employing the stochastic and dynamic approach, the cost factors can be monitored throughout the valuation process. Third, we outline the procedure of implementing the proposed methodology into a monitoring system. Finally, the Taiwan Public Employees Retirement System is simplified to illustrate techniques in achieving risk management goals.

MM7 Issues in Developing Economic Models for Managed Care: The Case of Osteoporosis Prevention

Although efficacy and safety data remain the mainstay of formulary decisions, the need for economic evaluation of new pharmaceutical products has become increasingly important within the managed care environment. For many new products, insufficient information is generated from clinical trials to conduct a comprehensive economic evaluation. Therefore, economic modeling is often the only feasible option for delivering timely information to decision makers about a new product's value. Unfortunately, economic models presented to managed care plans often have limited usefulness because they lack relevance or applicability to the plan's members or the overall goals of the organization. Of considerable importance is whether the model takes a budgetary perspective, enabling the plan to evaluate the financial impact of the product's benefits and costs over the short term. Also important is the extent to which the model reflects the plan's population and the anticipated clinical benefits of the product in a “real-world” setting. This workshop will discuss issues related to developing an economic model for the prevention of osteoporosis that is targeted to the managed care audience. Topics will include: (1) clinical and economic consequences of osteoporosis that are relevant to managed care in the short term; (2) characteristics of osteoporosis prevention that present unique challenges to modeling; (3) issues in using surrogate measures (e.g., bone mineral density) in an osteoporosis model; and (4) the potential impact of compliance on the cost-effectiveness of preventive therapies for osteoporosis. The goal of this workshop is to heighten the participant's awareness of the pharmacoeconomic needs of managed care and to provide guidance on developing useful economic models for this audience.

Arguments and Action in the Life of a Social Problem: A Case Study of "Overpopulation," 1946-1990

In this paper, we consider the issue of world population growth using a contextual constructionist perspective. We first develop a theoretical model that allows us to distinguish between interpretive packages (which organize the arguments about the pros and cons of population growth) and proposed solutions (such as population control and family planning). We review the political and organizational history of the population control movement in the period after World War II. Based on readings culled from the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature during 1946-1990, we examine the relationship between argument claims (packages) and potential ameliorative actions (solutions). We conclude that the emergence of birth control as a politically and technologically feasible solution to overpopulation in the early 1960s helped to unify the packages of arguments favoring population control during the next two decades. We test three specific hypotheses about the role of a proposed solution on the organization of argument claims about a social problem. These hypotheses are only partially confirmed by our empirical analysis, thus underlining that the presence or absence of a feasible solution for a social problem is only one aspect, albeit a potentially important one, of its competitiveness in various public arenas. Building on our distinction between argument claims and proposed solutions, we conclude by reflecting on the relationship between science and ideology.

Risk adjusting community rated health plan premiums: a survey of risk assessment literature and policy applications.

This paper surveys recent health care reform debates and empirical evidence regarding the potential role for risk adjusters in addressing the problem of competitive risk segmentation under capitated financing. We discuss features of health plan markets affecting risk selection, methodological considerations in measuring it, and alternative approaches to financial correction for risk differentials. The appropriate approach to assessing risk differences between health plans depends upon the nature of market risk selection allowed under a given reform scenario. Because per capita costs depend on a health plan's population risk, efficiency, and quality of service, risk adjustment will most strongly promote efficiency in environments with commensurately strong incentives for quality care.

The ideology of population control in the UN draft plan for Cairo

This paper examines the influence of population control ideology on the draft plan for the UN Cairo Conference on Population and Development. It is argued that this draft plan can only be fully understood in the context of the recent history of the population control movement and of the empirical reality of population control in particular countries. The paper focuses on the origins of the ideology of population control in the eugenics movement initially, and more recently in organisations such as International Planned Parenthood Federation. The role of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in promoting an incremental approach towards the wider acceptance of population control since the first intergovernmental conference on population in Bucharest in 1974, is outlined. Despite the serious loss of credibility for the UN, through the association of the UNFPA with the Chinese population control programme — the most coercive programme of its type in history — the UN in the draft plan for Cairo continues to promote the ideology of population control. This paper argues for the need to develop a more positive model of development, which acknowledges the complementarity between the lack of development of poorer countries and their potential for significant progress, and the overdevelopment of industrialised regions, whose future growth is increasingly based on intense competition for shrinking markets.

Personhood, contraception and population control.

There are two ways in which the contraceptive and population control movements devalue the person. First by destroying the integrity of the person and, as a result, the interpersonal relationship of marriage, and second, by their approach to the social problem of population. This paper will deal primarily with population control. The paper is not designed to give a comprehensive account of the population control movement but to highlight certain key aspects to show how both the values publicly promoted and the methods adopted to achieve their goals have diminished the person. According to a Christian personalist view of man, the person is a whole in himself and as such can never be treated simply as a part of society. Jacques Maritain has applied the philosophic distinction made by St. Thomas between individuality and personality to evaluate contemporary materialist philosophies. A social philosophy that ignores man's spirit leaves him with only material individuality and not true personality. Either anarchy tak~ uvt:r ur sUl:h a phiiosophy fWUU:S iht: pt:rson iu a mt:rt: numbt:r, all eOOIiOilUC statistic or a racial or ethnic entity.l John F. Crosby explains the difference in approach to the human being in terms of numbering. The quantitative relations oflarger and smaller are so merely because of comparison with other numbers. For example, 5 can become larger by hPino rnmn!lrpri tn ~ !Inri F. hPrnmp~ ~m!ll1pr whpn rllmn!lrPfl tn 1? If ~ vp.rv l~rQP'