Family Planning

China’s one child policy

Malcolm Potts
2006

China’s one child policy: The policy that changed the world

“The Chinese one child policy is unique in the history of the world. It was a source of great pain for one generation, but a generation later it began to yield important economic benefits. For China, and the world as a whole, the one child policy was one of the most important social policies ever implemented.”

Published in British Medical Journal, August 2006, 361-362

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Population and environment in the twenty-first century

Malcolm Potts
2007

Abstract: In the past 50 years global population grew by 3.7 billion. There is a large unmet need for family planning and wherever women have been given the means and the information to decide if or when to have the next child, then family size has fallen, often rapidly. However, since the UN 1994 Cairo conference on population and development, support for international family has collapsed and fertility declines in many of the poorest countries have stalled. Amongst some of the most vulnerable groups family size has risen. The investment made in voluntary family planning will largely...

Eight Mondays: a parliamentary group ends the silence on population

Martha Campbell
2007

In the summer of 2006, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Population, Development and Reproductive Health held a series of Monday hearings at Westminster, London, UK, on population growth and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For a joyous moment, good science and sound politics came together.

Published in The Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care, April 2007, 33(2):75-6

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Return of the Population Growth Factor

Martha Campbell
John Cleland
Alex Ezeh
Ndola Prata
2007

This Policy Forum explains how the Millenium Development Goals set by the United Nations cannot be achieved unless family planning is made easily available in the lowest-income countries.

Published in Science, March 16 2007, 1501-2

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Conservation and family planning in Tanzania: the TACARE experience

Amy A. Grossman
Mary Mavanza
2007

Abstract: Community-based distribution (CBD) programs present an alternative way of effectively reaching people in rural areas of developing countries where conventional methods of delivery do not exist or fail. This paper reviews the experience and findings from the Jane Goodall Institute’s (JGI) TACARE program in the Kigoma region of Tanzania. It focuses on the family planning CBD program and its integration within the TACARE program to meet the broader mission of JGI’s conservation efforts. Both qualitative and survey data suggest that the CBD program meets the needs for contraception...

Population growth and the MDGs

Malcolm Potts
2007

Letter to the Editor: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine

Published in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 2007 Jun;100(6):256-7, Letters

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Case study: fertility decline in Iran

Farnaz Vahidnia
2007

Iran has experienced one of the most successful family planning programs in the developing world, with 64 percent decline in total fertility rate (TFR) between 1986 and 2000. This paper focuses on Iranians’ unique experience with implementation of a national family planning program. Recognition of sensitive moral and ethical aspects of population issues resulted in successful collaboration of technical experts and religious leaders. Involvement of local health workers, women health volunteers and rural midwives led to great community participation. Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data...

Atlas of Contraception

Malcolm Potts
Pramilla Senanayake
2008

This revised and updated Atlas provides a comprehensive guide to modern contraceptive practice. The book is heavily illustrated with color photographs and line drawings that guide the reader through the various options available and provide a valuable educational resource. The supporting text offers a concise description of family planning in today’s world.

Family planning is needed, simple and inexpensive. This book provides an invaluable resource for the wide range of physicians and allied health workers who advise and deliver contraceptive care.

Published by Informa...

Letter: Effect of Contraceptive Access on Birth Rate

Malcolm Potts
Martha Campbell
2008

Letter in response to the Perspective “REPRODUCING IN CITIES” by Mace published in Science February 2008 in Science

Published in Science, May 16 2008, 874

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Saving maternal lives in resource-poor settings: Facing reality

Ndola Prata
Amita Sreenivas
Farnaz Vahidnia
Malcolm Potts
2009

Literature review to identify interventions that require minimal treatment/infrastructure and are not dependent on skilled providers. Simulations were run to assess the potential number of maternal lives that could be saved through intervention implementation according to potential program impact. Regional and country level estimates are provided as examples of settings that would most benefit from proposed interventions.

Three interventions were identified: (i) improve access to contraception; (ii) increase efforts to reduce deaths from unsafe abortion; and (iii) increase access to...