REPORT ON FAMILY PLANNING IN N.Z.

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31344, 14 April 1967, Page 2

REPORT ON FAMILY PLANNING IN N.Z.

fflX Frew Association—Copyright! SANTIAGO (Chile), April 13. Australia is not only underpopulated, but her already low birth rate is falling, the chairman of the South-east Asian and Oceanic region of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (I.P.PJF), Mrs Goh Kok Kee, said today.

This fact was causing the Australian Government much concern, she told the eighth international conference of the federation, which began last Sunday. “Australia has the highest consumption of oral contraceptives per capita of any country and some of her scientists are doing, useful research in various fields,” Mrs Goh Kok Kee said. She said until recently the subject of family planning was almost completely ignored by the Australian press, television and radio.

"The fact that a recent edition of the Sydney University newspaper ‘Honl Soit’ car-

ried a supplement giving complete details of various contraceptive methods can be regarded as a major breakthrough,” she said. “The editor commented that the publication was an attempt to overcome ignorance that could lead to unwanted pregnancies and abortion.” Mrs Goh Kok Kee said that in New Zealand the emphasis and approach to family planning was directed “almost entirely” towards the individual family and the personal needs of each woman. The I.P.P.F. magazines “Choice” and “Preparation For Family Living Program” were now published regularly in New Zealand although major government support was still withheld. A family life education council had been set up and

the Education Department provided full-time counsellors on secondary school staffs for pupil consultations. The Family Planning Association was conscious of the type of population problems which arise in the ease of Maori and other mothers who had to adjust themselves to the complex way of city life. At the 1965 annual conference, the Maori Women’s Welfare league had asked for official assistance for childspacing for Maori mothers. Reviewing the federation’s family planning programmes in South-east Asia Mrs Goh Kok Kee said that the "closed door” policy in Burma, the war in Vietnam and the long period of difficulty in Vietnam had retarded progress.