The general situation of family planning in Papua New Guinea, several of the relevant traditional beliefs, and a pilot project of community based distribution and family planning education in a rural market town. There is no government policy on population, although community based distribution programs have been active in some areas for 10 years. Papua New Guinea has a crude birth rate of 44/1000, an average of 6 children per family, but has only begun to introduce primary health care. Consequently, the population is expected to double by 2015. The pilot program, in a market town called Maprik in East Sepik Province, targets 44,378 women from surrounding villages, of whom about 800 may be using contraception. A family planning nurse is training 20 members of a Women's Council. In a 4-day course, held in the Council House, community distribution workers discussed family planning, responsible parenthood, sex education, nutrition, environmental and population issues. Ancient taboos and social controls that used to space births are breaking down under the pressure of missionization and westernization. Intercourse is still prohibited during menstruation and breastfeeding. There are specific magic spells and rituals used to insure fertility or abortion: these examples were used to help women understand the concepts of modern family planning methods. The nurse encouraged feedback from the women, and only held one formal teaching session, on record-keeping. For the success of the program, field workers should work from within, and supervise adequately. This will be done with quarterly refresher courses and monthly follow-up in each village.

作者：M, Osborn

来源：The New Zealand nursing journal. Kai tiaki 1986 年 79卷 11期