Population et démographie

In 1998, Thailand’s Health Systems Research Institute, a unit within the Ministry of Public Health, launched a comprehensive review of health services available to elderly people in Thailand. As part of this review, staff at Khon Kaen University gathered data on the provision of services by public facilities. Four methods of gathering data were used: (a) interviews with policy makers and implementors; (b) a survey of elderly people in the community; (c) exit interviews with patients at hospitals; and (d) observations in hospitals. This article summarizes results obtained through the latter three methods, A more detailed account of all four methods and the results can be found in the final report (Kamnuansilpa and others, 1999).

Data on fertility preferences are often used to help predict future fertility and the demand for contraception. The quality of fertility preference data is of prime importance when examining how well stated fertility preferences predict subsequent births and completed family size, and how well they predict fertility-related behaviour such as contraceptive use. Data on fertility preferences have also been used to construct measures of the unmet need for contraception and of unwanted fertility. The usefulness of these measures, which have been the basis for many studies and some programmatic efforts, depend on the underlying component (stated fertility preferences) being valid and reliable.

The international community has committed itself to an ambitious programme of social development for the opening decades of the twenty-first century. Attacking poverty directly — as a matter of human rights, to accelerate development and to reduce inequality within and among countries — has become an urgent global priority. World leaders have agreed on a variety of new initiatives, including the United Nations millennium development goals (United Nations, 2001).

Studies of factors that affect client loyalty to reproductive health (RH) clinics are limited. This is the case even though the International Conference on Population and Development held at Cairo in 1994 noted, among other issues, the importance of understanding how client perceptions of quality and satisfaction impact continued use of RH clinics (Ashford, 2001). From the client’s perspective, stronger clinic loyalty enhances willingness to follow treatment recommendations and keep subsequent appointments (RamaRao and others, 2003). From the clinic’s perspective, stronger loyalty results in more positive word-of-mouth and repeated visits. Visit continuity in turn increases staff’s ability to deliver quality care and reduces higher costs of recruiting new clients to replace one or two-time users (Sandaram, Mitra and Webster, 1998).

The sharp decline in mortality since 1950 and a steady recent decline in fertility has contributed to the process of population aging in India.

On 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.

The first family planning programme in the Islamic Republic of Iran started in 1966 and continued until the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The programme only slightly affected fertility. During the period 1966-1976, the population of the Islamic Republic of Iran experienced a modest fertility decline, but this was restricted to urban areas (Mirzaie, 1998; Aghajanian and Mehryar, 1999). Shortly after the Revolution, the family planning programme was suspended, although the provision of family planning services continued. In addition, the new Government adopted a pronatalist approach encouraging earlier marriage in the society. The eight-year war with Iraq also created a pronatalist atmosphere in the Islamic Republic of Iran. A rationing system was introduced for food and basic necessities, and this was helpful to large families. Two years after the revelation of the high population growth rate by the 1986 Census, the government population policy was reversed and a new antinatalist programme was officially inaugurated in December 1989. The details of this fundamental policy reversal and its success in such a short period of time have been elaborated elsewhere (Aghajanian, 1995; Mehryar and others, 2001; Abbasi-Shavazi, 2000a, 2002a; Abbasi-Shavazi and others, 2002; Kaveh-Firouz, 2002).

The movement of people between various regions of a country is one of the most important processes shaping its settlement system, the spatial structure of its economy and the spread of sociocultural attributes over its national territory. Because it assumes such a significant role, internal migration has been the focus of long-standing attention by those involved in policy-making and public interventions.

Mortality in Peninsular Malaysia has reached a level which is quite similar to that prevailing in the low mortality countries (World Health Organization, 1982: 17). As in countries such as China, Japan, Singapore and Sri Lanka, neoplasms and cardiovascular diseases, which previously had been minor causes of death in Malaysia, have become important in recent years (World Health Organization, 1982: 20).

The sexual and reproductive health community heralded the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in 1994 at Cairo as a new dawn in reproductive rights. ICPD saw a seismic shift in the way we look at reproductive health, away from the narrow confines of family planning and demographic targets to the broader areas of women’s empowerment and young people’s reproductive health needs. Most importantly, ICPD strengthened the concepts of “rights” and “choice” as the backbone of reproductive health. But many of the declarations hailed at the time remain just that – declarations. Many of the positive changes mooted at the Conference have not been implemented. No doubt this is partly owing to a lack of political resolve – particularly around sensitive issues of young people’s sexual rights and abortion – but also, crucially, a lack of financial will.