On the Prediction of Family Planning Practice in Pakistan: A Methodological Note

The high rate of population growth in the developing countriesat the present time—due to a fall in the level of mortality whilefertility maintains its high level—is threatening to absorb the benefitsachieved by those countries through the process of development, and isadversely influencing the health and welfare of individual families. Theapproach adopted by most governments of developing countries to solvethe population problem has been increasingly the incorporation ofpopu¬lation objectives within their development plans, and theestablishment of family planning programmes, or the support of familyplanning activities [1]. Such programmes and activities haveconcentrated mainly on providing family planning services to couples ona voluntary basis to prevent unwanted births [2]. As such, they havecome under severe criticism on two accounts, (a) the objective they setfor themselves of preventing unwanted births is not sufficient to reducethe birth rate to the desired level. Emphasis should be put onmotivating couples to reduce their desired family size. And (b) theprovision of services within family planning programmes has not beenadequate, and needs improvement [3,4].