Focusing on universal public health issues, this book explores what can be done and what the future holds. It introduces students and practitioners to behavior -change theories and applications. It details experiences of successful programs for the prevention and control of the world's biggest killers: malnutrition; respiratory infections; diarrhea; HIV//AIDS; and health problems arising from tobacco consumption and lack of access to family planning. The book explores health communication and social marketing strategies, learning theory, media advocacy, and community development. These behavior-change strategies are presented in terms of how the theory relates specifically to a particular health or disease issue.
Chapter 4: Family Planning
Each modern decade witnesses faster increases in human population than at any previous point in history. The world's population, stable at under 1 billion for millennia, recently surpassed 6 billion and is expected at least to double again in the next century. In 1998, the world witnessed a net population gain of 84 million, or about 10,000 more inhabitants per hour (Reid, 1998). Population increases occur mostly in underdeveloped countries, which affects health in two ways: indirectly through degradation of the environment and natural resources of a region and directly through the decreased availability of human resources such as health care services. Even industrialized countries with low birth rates will absorb some of this population gain; the population of the United States ...