State of World Population 2012 - UNFPA Haiti

Despite the tendency to consolidate all traditionalmethods into a singular category, notall traditional methods are the same. Severalcountries have good histories with non-modern,traditional methods. For example, withdrawalis a commonly used among educated couplesin Iran and Turkey and has been widely usedto prevent pregnancy in Sicily and Pakistan(Cottingham, Germain and Hunt, 2012; Erfani,2010). The Demographic and Health Surveyscategorize coitus interruptus as a “totally ineffectivefolk method,” even though this method isused extensively in a number of countries andis about as effective as condoms (Cottingham,Germain and Hunt, 2012).five married women. Nearly everywhere, womenare far more likely to undergo the sterilizationprocedure than men. In Colombia, for example,where 78 per cent of women are current contraceptiveusers, nearly a third of all women(31 per cent) have been sterilized, comparedwith just two per cent of men (United Nations,Department of Economic and Social Affairs,2011). Since desired fertility declines over time,couples married at young ages will stop havingchildren at earlier ages. After reaching theirdesired fertility, these younger couples may haveto avoid unintended pregnancy for up to 25years, making permanent methods attractiveto them.Female methods of family planning morewidely used than male methodsThe ICPD Programme of Action noted as a“high priority… the development of new methodsfor the regulation of fertility for men,” andcalled for the involvement of private industry.It urged countries to take special efforts toenhance male involvement and responsibilityin family planning (Paragraph 12.14.). Nearly20 years later, no new male methods have beenwidely introduced to the public. With few contraceptiveoptions for men, men’s use of familyplanning has been less than envisioned by theICPD. Today, even if all traditional methodsrequiring men’s cooperation (rhythm, withdrawaland others) are counted together withmale condoms, male methods account for about26 per cent of global contraceptive prevalence(United Nations, Department of Economic andSocial Affairs, 2011).Female sterilization rates far outnumber malerates. Although the decision to permanently endchildbearing can be difficult, sterilization is themost commonly used family planning methodin the world, relied upon by more than one in”Although the decision to permanently end childbearing canbe difficult, sterilization is the most commonly used familyplanning method in the world, relied upon by more than onein five married women.”While female sterilization rates are highest inLatin and Central America, ranging as high as47 per cent in the Dominican Republic, only 14countries in the world have at least 5 per centof men who have undergone vasectomy. Maleand female sterilization rates are most similar inAustralia and New Zealand, where about 15 percent of both men and women have been sterilized(United Nations, Department of Economicand Social Affairs, 2011). Male sterilizationexceeds female sterilization in only a handfulof countries, most notably in Canada and theUnited Kingdom, where men are about twice aslikely as women to be sterilized.One might infer from the mostly developedcountries that vasectomy rates primarily reflectwomen’s economic power and rights in thesecountries. Nepal is among the few developingcountries where vasectomy rates are aboveTHE STATE OF WORLD POPULATION 201227