Fertility and family planning in Papua New Guinea—a comment

This paper comments on the use of contraceptives by the rural and urban women of Papua New Guinea. Agyei 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. An explanation for this difference could be that the official estimate is based on service statistics which understate contraceptive use. Another is that Agyeis single stage sample design may have over-represented current users. Because some provinces were not included in his sample more details of the selection of 65 cluster units are needed. Unpublished tabulations from the 1980 sample census indicate that only 5% of the urban women aged 15-49 were employed in professional and technical occupations compared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 Agyeis sample. Agyeis unemployed category must refer to persons with no occupation or to persons not employed. It is not indicated whether either the rural or urban sample includes the census category rural village. The 1971 census found that 73% of all women aged 15 and over had never attended school 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. In Agyeis sample only 37% of rural women and 23% of urban women had no education. Overall there appears to be some indication that Agyeis sample may overrepresent women with some education and with higher status occupations. This could explain why Agyeis usage rates are substantially higher than other estimates.