The Foreign Service Journal, April 2012

“The U.S. international family plan- ning and reproductive health program stands out as one of our nation’s flag- ship foreign aid investments and is a cornerstone of the new Global Health Initiative,” says Susan Cohen, a family planning expert at Guttmacher. “Cut- ting funding for this highly effective program would be disastrous for women and families in poor countries, while barely making a scratch in the U.S. budget deficit.” Getting Creative Condoms and other birth control methods are not the only way to halt the population explosion, of course. In Brazil, popular soap operas tell the sto- ries of families — poor, middle and upper class — with two parents and two kids. Such programs inspired a cultural shift in how Brazilians saw the perfect family size and led to a reduc- tion in births. In Latin America and Southeast Asia, as the economy improved and parents increased their expectations for their children — especially in terms of getting a good education that led to a job — birth rates fell from seven per family to the replacement rate of two kids per family. Another way to curb the population explosion is through educating and em- powering women. It’s been widely known since the 1970s that when girls and women are taught to read, the health of their families improves. So does the ability to speak up in family discussions, where the decision to adopt birth control may be opposed by men who see small families as a sign of loss of community stature. The big man has a big family, many reason. Often the husband’s siblings and par- ents push for larger families, as well. But once people in Latin America, Italy and other predominantly Roman Catholic societies become convinced of the benefits of family planning and are given access to it, they began ignoring the religious prohibition on birth con- trol (as has already happened among American Catholics). The Council on Foreign Relations (www.cfr.org) iss ued a report in April 2011 appealing for greater support for family planning. It noted that “Global A P R I L 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 41 In Latin America and Southeast Asia, birth rates fell from seven per family to the replacement rate of two kids per family. www.facebook.com/fsjournal Like Us! Get FSJ and AFSA Updates Buy all your travel guides, language books and pleasure reading through the AFSA bookstore. Buy the Amazon Kindle and download and read first chapters for free before you decide to purchase that new book. When you access Amazon.com through our bookstore all your purchases will benefit AFSA at no additional cost to you. Find State Department and AFSA Reading Lists Online Start your purchase on our site: www.afsa.org/AFSAMarketplace.aspx