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- Volume 19, Issue 2, 2005
Asia-Pacific Population Journal - Volume 19, Issue 2, 2005
Volume 19, Issue 2, 2005
Issued quarterly, the Asia-Pacific Population Journal is an invaluable resource containing opinions and analysis by experts on important issues related to population. It provides a medium for the international exchange of knowledge, experience, ideas, technical information and data on all aspects of population.
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Barriers to family planning service use among the urban poor in Pakistan
Authors: Rob Stephenson and Monique HenninkAlthough fertility has shown some decline in Pakistan in recent years, contraceptive use remains low. Despite high knowledge of modern methods of contraception (94 per cent of married women know of a modern method of contraception) only 17 per cent of married women of reproductive age currently use a modern method of contraception (Pakistan Reproductive Health and Family Planning Survey, 2001; Sathar and Casterline, 1998). This is in part a product of poor physical access to family planning services. The coverage and quality of family planning services is poor, with only 10 per cent of the population living within easy walking distance of government-operated family planning services (Rosen and Conly, 1996). Consequently, there exists a large unmet need for family planning services in Pakistan (Mahmood and Ringheim, 1997). Previous research, however, into the barriers to family planning service use has highlighted the importance of looking beyond physical access to examine barriers that arise from the socio-economic and cultural environment in which an individual lives (Bertrand and others, 1995; Foreit and others, 1978). Pakistan presents an interesting context for examining the range of potential barriers to the use of family planning services, with a low level of economic development and strict cultural norms that may inhibit service utilization. This paper identifies the barriers to family planning service use among women in urban slum areas. The paper also examines the characteristics of urban poor women who report different types of barriers to using family planning services. Gaining a better understanding of the types of women who are likely to experience particular barriers to family planning services is valuable for developing service promotion strategies and for informing service delivery protocols.
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Unmet need for public health-care services in Mumbai, India
Authors: T.R. Dilip and Ravi DuggalThe rural urban disparities in health outcomes in India are often attributed to urban bias in allocation of resources and location of health-care services. Statistics clearly show that the bed population ratio is higher in urban areas and that those regional inequalities have not seen any significant decline over time (Duggal and others, 1995). This regional imbalance is there in both the public and the private health sector. Further, public spending on health care is also disproportionately higher in urban areas. However, while critiquing the regional bias, it is to be examined whether the urban areas in India, where 22 per cent of the population is residing in slums, has the required number of public health-care facilities. Unlike other urban areas, the matter requires special attention in an urban metropolis in India that is characterized by poor living conditions making the public more vulnerable to diseases, and where poverty levels are likely to be similar, if not worse, than that in rural areas. This could be understood by examining who utilizes those services and for what reasons.
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Towards a formulation of the Republic of Korea’s foreign worker policy: Lessons from Japan and Germany
Author: Joon K. KimOn 15 June 2003, some 700 migrant workers in the Republic of Korea gathered in front of the National Assembly building, calling for a complete overhaul of the Foreigner Industrial Training and Employment programme (oekukin sanup yonsu chwiup jedo) and demanding an employ permit system (goyonghogaje) to replace it (Chosun Ilbo, 2003). After the Republic of Korea experienced a tremendous labour shortage in the late-1980s, the Government implemented the industrial trainee system in 1991. Lacking the experience in managing the flow of foreign workers, the Republic of Korea established the Japanese version of the immigrant labour scheme, providing ostensibly transferable skills to foreigners. That programme, however, produced inordinate number of undocumented workers and created unacceptable conditions for foreign workers in the country. Those trainees were cheap labourers in disguise. In response, the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country advocated persistently for a major reform of the system, focusing on the deleterious effects of the trainee system and considering various guestworker models from countries in Europe. This article examines international contract labour programmes from Japan and Germany in order to provide a desirable framework for the foreign worker policy of the Republic of Korea.
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Dynamics of poverty, development and population mobility: The Bangladesh case
Author: Rita AfsarOver the last decade, the landscape of Bangladesh has changed remarkably with the persistent mobility of people. This is an emerging reality in the development discourse of the country, which reflects the dynamic interactions between spaces and poverty. In response to improvements in markets, communications and transport and a better access to electricity, migration has assumed great importance in constructing livelihood strategies of the people and economy of the country. In light of the changing situation in Bangladesh, links between migration and development need to be re-examined. Moreover, there is a considerable vacuum to understand migration-poverty interface in the country (Chaudhury, 1978; Chaudhury and Curlin, 1975; Islam and Begum, 1983; Krishnan and Rowe, 1978; Rahman and others, 1996; Hossain and others, 1999; Afsar, 1999; Hossain and others, 2003a). The main purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of population mobility on poverty alleviation and document how that impact is changing the development parameters of the country. More specifically, the paper examines the impact of migration on the migrants and their families at destinations and then, on overall rural economy and urbanization in order to capture the dynamic interactions between population mobility and other development parameters. It also assesses how far poverty alleviation strategies capture those realities and the gaps. Policies that should be adopted to address the gaps and the emerging realities are also recommended in the conclusion.
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Volumes & issues
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Volume 32
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Volume 31
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Volume 30
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Volume 28
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Volume 26
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Volume 29
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Volume 27
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Volume 25
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Volume 24
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Volume 23
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Volume 22
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Volume 21
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Volume 20
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Volume 19
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Volume 18
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Volume 17
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Volume 16
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Volume 15
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Volume 14
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Volume 13
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Volume 12
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Volume 11
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Volume 10
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Volume 9
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Volume 8
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Volume 7
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Volume 6
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Volume 5
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Volume 4
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Volume 3
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Volume 2
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Volume 1