Sri Lanka
Fertility decline in Sri Lanka: Are all ethnic groups party to the process?
Sri Lanka has played the role of a virtual laboratory in understanding the process of demographic transition in low-income countries. The advanced stages of demographic transition in any context entail irreversible population growth patterns that affect the population growth components of fertility, mortality and migration. The significant demographic transitional effects are the fertility changes that these communities undergo, tending towards achieving replacement or below replacement fertility levels (De Silva, 1994). It would therefore be of interest to investigate the course of such changes occurring in a heterogeneous society.
Women’s perceptions of the pill’s potential health risks in Sri Lanka
The birth control pill has been in use for three decades. By the early 1980s, an estimated 50 million women worldwide were using the pill and approximately three times as many had used it at some time in their reproductive years (Kols et al.,1982).
How serious is ageing in Sri Lanka and what can be done about it?
Structural changes necessitated by population ageing may demand a greater share of expenditure from the Government
Below to above replacement: Dramatic increase in fertility and its determinants in Sri Lanka
During the early phase of the demographic transition in Sri Lanka (in the 1920s), the birth rate persisted at about 40 per 1,000 population, with the death rate fluctuating at around 20 per 1,000. A slight decline in the death rate was observed from the late 1920s onward. After the 1940s, the crude death rate dropped at an unprecedented level: about 1.5 deaths per 1,000 population per year on average, before reaching the level of 12 deaths per 1,000 population by the middle of the twentieth century (Caldwell, 1986).
Determinants of contraceptive method choice in Sri Lanka: An update of a 1987 survey
Recent studies have emphasized the policy and programmatic importance of understanding the choice of contraceptive method use and the factors affecting contraceptive choice (Bulatao, Palmore and Ward, 1989; Tsuiand Herbertson, 1989). The purpose of this article is to analyze the sociocultural and demographic determinants of contraceptive method choice in Sri Lanka. The study is an update of a previous study on this topic by Kahn, Thapa and Gaminiratne (1989). The previous study analyzed the determinants of contraceptive choice at two time periods, 1975 and 1982. It considered four current contraceptive choices: no use, use of a traditional method, use of a modern temporary method and use of sterilization. The analysis showed that, both in 1975 and 1982, socio-demographic factors had a strong influence on whether any method was used. However, in both the time periods, the type of method chosen was primarily a function of demographic factors related to the couple’s family-building stages rather than socio-economic factors, implying that in Sri Lanka there are few socioeconomic barriers to accessibility and choice of contraceptive methods.
Strength of fertility motivation: Its effects on contraceptive use in rural Sri Lanka
Although questions on family size desires have been included routinely in fertility surveys for several decades, questions that attempt to assess the strength of those desires have been much less common. For example, neither the World Fertility Surveys nor the Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys included such questions. The on-going round of Demographic and Health Surveys include questions on strength of fertility motivation, but analyses of the effect of strength of motivation on contraceptive use have not yet been reported.
Do fertility intentions and behaviour influence sterilization in Sri Lanka?
Promotion of temporary methods should not be neglected for spacing or limiting programmes
Continuation and effectiveness of programme and non-programme methods of family planning in Sri Lanka
The clinical efficacy of various contraceptive methods is well known. However, relatively little is known about their use-effectiveness (which refers to both technical failure of a method and the failure to use a method properly in actual life conditions, especially in developing countries). Use-effectiveness data for programme as well as non-programme methods are necessary for assessing the impact of contraceptive use on fertility (Bongaarts and Potter, 1983).
Fertility transition in Sri Lanka: Programme and non-programme factors
During the past four decades, Sri Lanka has experienced significant changes in the level and pattern of fertility. The total fertility rate has declined from about 5 children per woman in the early 1960s to near the replacement level of 2.1 by the end of the 1990s despite the fact that the number of women in the reproductive age group more than doubled during this period.
Ahead of target: Achievement of replacement level fertility in Sri Lanka before the year 2000
Sri Lanka will have a rapidly ageing population, and this change will require substantial shifts in policies to cater for changing needs.
The Ireland of Asia: Trends in marriage Timing in Sri Lanka
To lower the incidence of abortion, the national family planning programme needs to provide servicesalso for the unmarried young.
Biomedical facts and social constructs: The relative attention paid to prenatal and postpartum periods in Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, a well-organized system of maternal and child health services provides care to mothers and children. However, the services provided before delivery differ markedly from those following delivery, when most of the care and attention is bestowed on the newborn and not on the mother. This difference may be seen with regard to both the formal health delivery system and the general attention given to the mother by the family. Although the pregnant mother receives attention from the maternal health services, it is not for the mother herself, but rather because she is carrying the baby. This is not surprising in a society where a woman’s main role is childbearing and child-rearing — a role that the mothers themselves accept. But because of such attitudes, mothers do not receive the necessary care during the postpartum period from the formal health delivery system, their families or even from themselves.
Les portes du paradis sont ouvertes… mais qui en bénéficie ? Expériences dans le Sri Lanka de l’après-guerre
Cet article s’inscrit dans le cadre du thème « éradiquer la pauvreté comme moyen de prévenir les conflits ». En soulevant la question de savoir si l’éradication de la pauvreté peut prévenir les conflits, nous sommes amenés à réfléchir à sa complexité et à son interdépendance avec d’autres aspects de la vie moderne. Se concentrer uniquement sur la réduction de la pauvreté comme moyen de prévention des conflits est une approche assez réductrice. Le travail empirique réalisé dans le Sri Lanka de l’après-guerre montre que la relation symbiotique entre la pauvreté et les conflits ne peut faire l’objet d’une analyse simpliste. La pauvreté n’est qu’un facteur des conflits parmi de nombreux autres. Mais elle est aussi un phénomène pluridimensionnel. De même, les conflits exacerbent la pauvreté de nombreuses façons en entravant la croissance, en détruisant les investissements et en entraînant l’interruption de la fourniture des services. Les privations que les populations ont connues pendant la guerre font l’objet de nombreux témoignages. Cet article va au-delà de ces dualités et met l’accent sur le fait que les conflits et la pauvreté demeurent liés même après la fin de la guerre et que les inégalités structurelles sont un obstacle à la fois à la prévention des conflits et à la réduction de la pauvreté. Nous faisons valoir que la prévention des conflits doit être abordée de manière intersectionnelle et globale, en gardant à l’esprit les inégalités structurelles. Il est difficile de résister aux promesses du développement économique. À la fin de la guerre civile au Sri Lanka, l’autoroute A91 a été de nouveau ouverte après plusieurs années. À cette occasion, S. Sivananthan, un cadre gouvernemental, a déclaré que « les portes du paradis [étaient] ouvertes à la population de Jaffna (Parameswaram, 2009). Il entendait par là que les relations rétablies entre le nord et le reste du pays allaient améliorer l’infrastructure, les transports ainsi que le commerce et offrir de nombreuses possibilités économiques. Devant ces nombreuses possibilités, les entrepreneurs, les organismes d’aide, les sociétés et les organismes gouvernementaux se sont empressés de « reconstruire en mieux » et de donner l’impulsion nécessaire pour développer les moyens de subsistance et relancer l’économie après 30 ans de guerre civile, ouvrant le pays à la reconstruction et au relèvement économique. À cette époque, le Gouvernement sri lankais faisait un parallèle entre le développement économique et la réduction de la pauvreté et, de fait, présentait le développement économique comme le mantra pouvant régler tous les problèmes.
The risks of pregnancy and the consequences among young unmarried women working in a free trade zone in Sri Lanka
The primary health care system in Sri Lanka has an international reputation for its contributions to reducing the rates of infant and maternal morbidity and mortality. These results have been achieved in part through a comprehensive system of early identification of expectant mothers, careful follow-up and monitoring, almost universal hospital deliveries, postpartum follow-up for three months after delivery, an effective immunization programme, nutrition supplements and the reporting of infectious diseases. A key to this system is the “public health midwife” (PHM) who identifies pregnant mothers, ensures their regular attendance at maternal and child health (MCH) clinics, makes monthly home visits, advises pregnant mothers on nutrition and health, facilitates hospital admission for delivery and responds to emergencies. They also provide postnatal follow-up of mother and child (Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine, 1998).
Ethnic models of fertility behaviour in Sri Lanka
Ethnic differences in fertility behaviour have become increasingly important and of much concern to policy makers, programme planners and managers in many pluralistic societies of the Asian and Pacific region.
Estate women’s fertility in Sri Lanka: Some aberrant perspectives in the causal links
The common findings of research are that women in the labour force bear fewer children than those out of it. However, the behavioural pattern of Indian Tamils is somewhat aberrant in nature as for some time in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, their fertility performance was lower than for those women in the other major ethnic groups in the country, namely the Sinhalese and the Sri Lankan Tamils. On closer examination of the underlying factors, it becomes evident that it is again not the labour force participation per se that was the determining factor, and that fresh and different evidence reveals factors accounting for this impressive but anomalous inverse link.
Foreign direct investment as a catalyst for domestic firm development: The case of Sri Lanka
Foreign direct investment (FDI) carried out by multinational enterprises (MNEs) is recognized as a mechanism through which domestic firms can learn and improve competitiveness. Unlike the extant literature, which tends to focus on the aggregate effects of FDI in Sri Lanka, we investigate the role of FDI for domestic firm development at the firm level. Using World Bank Enterprise Survey data supplemented by industry data, preliminary investigation reveals that, compared with domestic firms, MNEs are larger, more productive, more profitable and more active in research and development (R&D). MNEs hire higher proportions of skilled workers and undertake more in-house training programs. They are also more export-oriented but rely more on inputs of foreign origin. The gaps between foreign and domestic firms indicate the potential that Sri Lankan firms can learn from MNEs and from FDI. The econometric study on firm-level productivity indicates positive direct effects and negative spillover effects of FDI on domestic firms. The findings have important policy implications.
The gates of paradise are open … but who benefits? Experiences from post-war Sri Lanka
This article is written in response to the theme of “eradicating poverty as a means of conflict prevention”. By asking whether the eradication of poverty prevents conflict, we reflect upon its complexity and interdependence with other aspects of modern day life. To focus solely on poverty reduction as a means of conflict prevention is somewhat reductive. Empirical work done on post-war Sri Lanka shows that the symbiotic relationship between poverty and conflict falls beyond the scope of simplistic analysis. After all, poverty is only one of many contributing factors to conflict. On the other hand, poverty itself is a multidimensional phenomenon. Similarly, conflict exacerbates poverty in many ways, by stunting growth, destroying investments and breaking down service delivery. Firsthand experience provides countless stories of deprivations that people suffer during war. This article looks beyond these binaries to emphasize that conflict and poverty remain interlinked even after armed warfare ends, highlighting the fact that structural inequalities hinder both conflict prevention and poverty reduction. Conflict prevention, we argue, must position itself intersectionally and holistically, with an eye to transforming these structural inequalities.
Sri Lanka sweetens its offerings of fruits, vegetables for export
On any given day, rain or shine, Ruwan Hemage tends to his farm in Loluwagoda, Sri Lanka, about 70 kilometres outside the capital city of Colombo. Hemage, his wife and two hired workers cultivate a variety of crops on the six-hectare farm including coconuts, bananas, papayas and ginger. The main focus, however, is on pineapples, which are intercropped with or grown in close proximity to coconuts to produce a greater yield on the land. About 90% of the pineapples are exported to the Middle East.