DKT International manufactures flavored condoms for sale in the Philippines. One year after introduction to the market, flavored condoms now already 10% of total condom sales in the country. The production and sale of flavored condoms by DKT comes on the heels of recent market research. The organization examined the sex behavior and practices of 300 prostitutes in Pasay, and found that about half of the sex workers performed fellatio for their customers. Of those prostitutes who engaged in oral sex, 50% chose not to use condoms because they tasted bad. Were pleasant-tasting condoms put on the market, however, people may choose to use them more often during oral sex. BFAD had held up the renewal of DKT's license to market the flavored condoms pending data on why a flavored condom was being marketed. The author notes the anti-condom lobby's attempt to keep flavored condoms off of the market. Detractors claim that such condoms may be eaten by children who think that they are candy.
Begun in the early 1970s, Thailand's Population Program has been and unqualified success. The program has been able to reduce population growth from 3.2% in 1970s to 1.2% as of 1989. From the early 1970s to 1987, contraceptive prevalence increased from 14.8 to 70.6%. Several factors account for the success. In contrast to the Philippines, whose population program has not been as successful, Thailand has not experienced religious opposition to family planning, since BUddhists favor limiting children. The Thai program has also stated a clear delineation of roles for nongovernment organizations. In order to avoid duplication of programs and competition among field workers, the Ministry of Health coordinates all programs. Success is also due to the program's demographic-economic approach, which stresses the economic implications of population growth. Finally, the availability and accessibility of to family planning services has greatly contributed to the success of the program. All government hospitals have a family planning clinic, and midwives, nurses, and doctors all receive family planning training. Unless clients can demonstrate that they are unable to pay, all family planning services carry a standard fee. The Thai Population Program has evolved from a purely family planning contraceptive service to a community development program designed to improve the productivity of individuals. The government has implemented the Thailand Business Initiative in Rural Development, which involves the participation of civic-minded business groups in assisting community development.
Among Philippine ethnic groups, Muslims indicate the highest desire for children and the Tagalogs the lowest. Islam followers also want 2.22 more children than Iglesia ni Kristo believers, who have the lowest desire in terms of religious sects. These findings are from the Republic of the Philippines Fertility Survey [RPFS). Thomas W. Pullam, a sociology professor and director of the University of Washington's Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, assumed that frequency of church attendance would affect respondents' attitudes toward family planning. The actual result was that those who attended church more frequently were the more regular family planning users. Some respondents used actual family size "to predict desired family size." Women who had large families indicated that they wanted large families. Pullum observed that the husband may be important in setting the desired goal. The presence of the woman's mother or mother-in-law may also be influential. Aside from religion and ethnicity, the other factors contributing to family size are region, type of place (urban or rural), education, husband's occupation, and wife's work pattern. The range from the highest to the lowest desire for children was 2.35 in the ethnic group variable. In this survey the highly educated women, meaning those who were at least college graduates, wanted more children than the women who had some college education. This desire for more children may stem from the women having household help to ease the burden of child care. Pullam expected that women with the most modern type of work would want less children, but this was not the case. At the time of the survey, the current contraceptive users numbered 60%, with 29.1% using oral contraceptives, IUD, condom, or sterilization, and 31.2% other methods like rhythm. Pullum concluded that the use of contraception was predicted by the desire to stop childbearing.
In appraising the current status, problems and approaches of the Philippines population program, initial focus is on providing a brief account of the program's development. A national family planning program that respected the religions beliefs and values of individuals was the 1st step. These early family planning efforts were physician oriented, clinic-based, and female-oriented, and the acceptance rates continued to be low. In response to this, population and family planning was made an integral part of the socioeconomic development of the country. This new orientation paved the way for the birth of the national population and family planning project which is currently the program's core project. The outreach project was intended to stregthen the programs' capability to reach out to the remote areas through its Full-Time Outreach Workers (FTOW) and Barangay supply points. This program is being implemented throughout the Philippines. About 2596 full-time outreach workers, 31,592 barangay supply points, and 3612 family planning clinics are making family planning information and services available to the population. Based on outreach reports, current users increased from 780,183 to 815,061 by March 1979. These accomplishments contributed greatly to the decline in the population growth rate from 3.01 in 1960-1970 to 2.78% in 1970-1975. Greater concerted efforts still need to be exerted to achieve target populations by the year 2000. The special committee to review the Philippine population program has recommended that the concept of family planning be redefined to include family welfare. The program continues to implement complementary and supplementary sets of projects which are termed phase 1 project, population planning 2 projects, and population loan 1 and 2.
In the People's Republic of China, the national family planning goals of deferred marriage, increased birth intervals, and smaller family size are communicated to the citizens of the country primarily through small group activities, and conformity to these goals is achieved by bringing peer and community pressure to bear on the individual. The State Council and the Office of Family Planning formulate national population policy which is then implemented by the Ministry of Health. Ministry officials organize local family planning committees in schools, factories, villages, and other institutions. These local committees are charged with the responsibility of motivating their co-workers, neighbors, and colleagues toward compliance with national goals. Women are expected to discuss their own family planning goals with their assigned committee and each committee must submit a plan for their group designating the number of births that will occur in the future, who will give birth, and when these births will occur. In the schools, sex education is not given until the secondary level and at that time a member from each class is selected and made responsible for the family planning education of his fellow classmates. This grass-roots approach to family planning is unique and may have applicability in other developing countries.
