Premium
From Papua New Guinea
Author(s) -
MacPherson Stewart
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9515.1988.tb00294.x
Subject(s) - new guinea , citation , sociology , library science , computer science , ethnology
The 1980 population of Papua New Guinea was 32.3 thousand, with an annual rate of population growth of 3.2% and a rate of natural increase of 2.7%. The government does not have an ezplicit policy regarding population growth, largely because there is little consensus at the national level as to what constitutes an acceptable level or trend of fertility and growth. No single governmental agency is responsible for the overall coordination or implementation of population policies, although the Manpower and Education Section of the National Planning Office is charged with ensuring that population factors are integrated into national planning. The government's major developmental objectives for the 1980s are to provide rising incomes and productive livelihoods for the growing population. There is concern about the concentration of population and economic activity in the metropolitan center as well as urban-rural disparities in wage levels, access to public services, and employment opportunities. Policies have been designed to raise agricultural incomes, expand income-earning opportunities in rural areas and smaller towns, encourage industrial development in rural areas, and improve basic services in rural areas. Continuing high levels of infant and maternal mortality, infectious and respiratory diseases, and malnutrition are considered unacceptable. The policy orientation is toward primary health care targeted at the rural areas. Specific measures aimed at improving the equitable distribution and accessibility of health services include low-cost basic services, health education, community participation, rural health programs, and decentralization of health care functions to the provinces. The total fertility rate is about 6.2/woman, which the government considers to be too high for family well-being. The government provides support to family planning programs, although mainly as a means of improving family welfare rather than controlling population growth. Family planning services are available at 200 of the country's 343 maternal-child health clinics; however, only about 6.5% of women of childbearing age are continuing contraceptive users.