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In considering family planning methods, health workers
must help people remember that all medicines have some
risks. For each person, the risks need to be weighed
against the benefits. Even aspirin, which is considered
harmless enough to sell without prescription, causes ulcers
and even fatal bleeding in some persons. In fact, aspirin
probably causes more deaths than ‘the pill’. Yet nobody
protests the huge sales promotion of aspirin, because it is
not a political, religious, or women’s rights issue.
Aspirin probably harms more
people than birth control pills.
But no one protests, because it
is not a political Issue.
CHILDREN OF THE POOR—A BURDEN OR A BENEFIT?
The poor are often made to feel guilty or irresponsible for having many children.
Posters and radios tell people, The small family lives better, and advise them to
Have only the number of children you can afford.
Yet for many poor families, to have many children is an economic
necessity. For rural families, especially, children are a valuable source of low-cost
labor. This study from Java (adapted from Population and Development Review,
September, 1977) shows how much children can do.
WHY THE POOR NEED CHILDREN
WORK DONE BY CHILDREN IN JAVA
By age 10 or 12, boys and girls produce
more than they cost. By age 15, they
already have produced as much as
they have cost their families (in
food, clothes, etc.) since birth.
13 yrs. old—HOEING
12 yrs. 9 mo. —WORKING FOR WAGES
Average age at which
children begin each
activity.
9 yrs. 10 mo—TRANSPLANTING RICE
9 yrs. 8 mo.—HARVESTING RICE
9 yrs. 6 mo.—CUTTING FODDER
9 yrs. 4 mo.—CARING FOR GOATS AND CATTLE
8 yrs. 9 mo.—FETCHING WATER
8 yrs. old—CARING FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN
7 years 9 months—CARING FOR CHICKENS AND DUCKS
Even in some cities, by working, begging, and stealing in the streets, children
sometimes earn more than their parents, who are underpaid and often unemployed.
Especially as parents grow old, become ill, and can no longer work hard themselves,
having many children may be their best guarantee for getting enough to eat.