Fertility and family planning in Papua New Guinea—a comment

Abstract

Agyei (1984) found that modern methods of contraception (pill, injection, loop, condom) were currently used by 13% of rural and 20% of urban Papua New Guinea women. This is substantially more than the estimate given in the final draft of the National Health Plan, 1986-90, of 7% of women of childbearing age using any method.One possible explanation for this difference could be that the official estimate is based on service statistics which understate contraceptive use. Another is that Agyei's 'single stage sample design' may have over-represented current users. As some provinces were not included in his sample, more details of the selection of 65 cluster units are needed. In 1980, Papua New Guinea's total citizen population of 2,978,057 was 88% rural (McMurray, 1985) yet only 30 clusters represent the rural population while 35 represent the urban population. Further, it is not indicated whether either the rural or urban sample includes the census category 'rural nonvillage', defined as 'a collection of persons living in a rural area but not in a traditional rural village (e.g. a mission station, aid post, plantation, school, settlement scheme)' (National Statistical Office, no date).Some rough checks on the representativeness of Agyei's sample can be made from the available census data. The 1971 census found that 73% of all women aged 15 and over had never attended school (Skeldon, 1979) while the 1980 census found that 83% of all Papua New Guinea females aged 5 years and over and not at school had no education (National Statistical Office, no date). In Agyei's sample only 37% of rural women and 23% of urban women had no education.Unpublished tabulations from the 1980 sample census (a separate enumeration using a more detailed questionnaire and covering approximately 4-5% of the total population) indicate that only 5% of the urban women aged 15-49 were employed in professional and technical occupations compared with 10% in professional occupations alone in Agyei's sample. Agyei's 'unemployed' category must, in fact, refer to persons with no occupation, or to persons not employed. The sample census shows that 80% of urban women and 57% of rural women aged 15-49 were not employed, compared with Agyei's 62% and 31% unemployed. 245