“My town has no light,†writes my friend from Ghana. “The high school has no computer. All of us have to travel to Tamale on a rough road for 5 hours to have internet or better education. My parents have never touched a computer.â€We all have images of young Abe Lincoln studying by firelight. The reality is that most kids who lack electricity just go to bed after dark. Too few parents can afford to light a lantern so their kids can do their lessons.It is difficult to study and to be productive after dark without artificial light. A recent medical article pointed out that “…1.6 billion people are exposed to adverse health risks because of lack of access to electricity.†Even if there were medicines and the best of doctors living in their towns, they would be useless without electricity for medical instruments and refrigerators to cool medication.Yet two billion people live without a reliable source of electricity. Kerosene is the alternative for many of these people. Kerosene lanterns always present the risk of fire, and they generate air pollution. Their smoke adds to the burden of respiratory disease that afflicts millions.The World Health Organization estimates that indoor air pollution kills 1.6 million people annually in developing countries. That means that one person dies every twenty seconds from smoke from kerosene lights and from cooking and heating fires. Those who do not die from the fumes may suffer permanent damage to their heath. Many of the affected are children, who cannot escape the pollution.Many of the poorest people—the billion who live on the equivalent of just one dollar a day—cannot even afford kerosene. They are doomed to a life of darkness between sunset and dawn.Burning coal and biomass fuels is responsible for much ill health in the poorest countries. When we visited India last winter we watched a woman harvest manure from the sacred cattle. After drying, this biomass was used to cook and heat.Sometimes help comes from unexpected places. An ex-Marine recognized the importance of a safe source of light for people in poor countries and has developed a solar flashlight. How could he get them where they are needed, without a huge grant or government support?BOGO! This stands for “Buy One, Give One.†We’ve had our BogoLight for several months now, and use it frequently. It sits recharging in a sunny window and is ready to go when we are. We take it camping, where it hangs from the top of our tent when we bed down at night and read a bit before sleep. Part of it glows in the dark to help find it for late night pit stops.In bright orange or pink, BogoLights are waterproof, dazzlingly bright and rugged. To order these lights, go to www.bogolight.com. I plan to do some holiday shopping there! You pay $25, which buys your light and the one that goes to a dark country. On the website you can choose what organization gets the gift. My current favorite is Saboba’s Hope, a medical clinic in northern Ghana near where my friend grew up. I recently saw a similar (but inferior) light in a store for more money.Perhaps you have heard of the One Laptop per Child program. It is an educational program to supply robust little computers designed for children in developing countries. They draw so little electricity that the child herself can generate it with a crank. The plan is for each child to have her/his own computer! The specifics are available at www.laptopgiving.org. Although the manufacturer has contracts from the governments of several countries, they are using BOGO to kick-start the program.Hurry if you want one of these gems! They are only available in this country until November 26th—that’s tomorrow. Each order costs $399. Of that, $200 is a tax-deductible donation that pays for the unit that goes to a child in a poor country.These two products, the solar light and simple computer, are both high tech and, at the same time, simple. Each is designed to help people in the developing world, but can fulfill a need in our country. Neither is bankrolled by big money. In each case, the generosity of individuals can help our friends in poorer areas. Remember, two of the most important factors leading to lower birth rates in developing countries are education (especially of girls) and promoting health.© Richard Grossman MD, 2007[The article above may be copied or published but must remain intact, with attribution to the author. I also request that the words “First published in the Durango Herald†accompany any publication. For more information, please write the author at: richard@population-matters.org.]
Category: Action
Categories
Include Men
How can we influence more people to use modern contraception? The answer is simple—include male partners in making family planning decisions. This ploy works in many different cultures.
Why have men been left out of family planning? In the past, planners have focused on women since only they get pregnant. The family planning movement started with Margaret Sanger over 75 years ago. For many years clinics catered to women’s needs, and only recently have they started to provide reproductive health care for men. There is another reason, too. Men make millions of sperm, but women only make one egg a month. It is easier to stop the production of a single egg than of all those sperm.
Furthermore, demographic studies of fertility usually focus on women. This is because it is easier to trace the parentage of a child to the mother. For example, the total fertility rate is defined as the number of children per woman. Only recently have demographers studied the fathering of children.
Now we acknowledge the importance of men in family planning. Especially in “macho” societies where men tend to be the decision-makers, women don’t have much control over the use of contraception unless their husbands concur.
Worldwide there are successes when men are included in family planning decisions. One comes from Ethiopia. Community family planning workers visited two different groups of married couples at home. In one group only the wife was present. The husbands also were present with the other half of the couples. Few of these couples were already using modern contraception.
Did these visits make a difference? Yes! One or two visits increased the use of pills, IUD’s or condoms. Did the presence of the husband improve the acceptance of contraception? You bet it did! At the end of a year, a third of couples were still using a method if their husbands had participated in the contraceptive decision. Only half that many used family planning where the husband was excluded.
Here in the United States the story is similar. Education, along with the AIDS scare, has doubled teens’ use of condoms in the past decade. In the past men assumed that women would take full responsibility for contraception. Now guys are more likely to share this responsibility and to use condoms. The availability of clinics where men feel comfortable has helped catalyze this change. Whether they attend alone or with their partners, it is important to involve men.
When asked, most males believe that preventing pregnancy is partly a male responsibility. Sad to say, only 2% of federal family planning dollars are allocated to reproductive services for men. Fortunately, some programs succeed in reaching young men.
Male service providers have found several steps to build successful programs. They use mass media to reach young men and to encourage them to communicate with their partners. Then they provide information about condoms and vasectomy where men tend to gather—a favorite place is in barbershops.
Teens on Track (TNT) is a program sponsored by Planned Parenthood of Southern New Jersey. Their first step was to hire male clinic workers. Then they built a program that incorporates recreation, education and medical care. The local YMCA hosts “Teen Night”. An hour of education on male health and sexuality is followed by sports—swimming or basketball. Attendance has been excellent.
In Houston the Baylor Teen Health Clinic hired a sports medicine physician to help draw teens to their “Males Only” program. Outreach workers recruit young men from housing projects and juvenile probation centers. The programs have helped the guys stay in school, improve academic performance and prevent unplanned pregnancies.
In one of the poorest countries of Africa “…men are deliberately constructing their family sizes and structure.” Researchers conclude: “Our perception is that in the communities studied in the rural Gambia, men’s contribution to the costs of bearing and raising their children is smaller than that of their wives…. It may be that the key shift precipitating fertility transition in high fertility societies in West Africa will be the growing financial burden of fatherhood.” The Gambia has one of the highest growth rates in the world. We can only hope that the men sense this burden quickly and plan for smaller families.
It is possible to change attitudes. Including men in family planning decisions increases their use of male methods, and improves their cooperation with their partners’ use of contraception. The result is fewer unplanned pregnancies, and better communication between men and women.
© Richard Grossman MD, 2005