INFLUENCES ON FAMILY-PLANNING ACCEPTANCE - ANALYSIS OF BACKGROUND AND PROGRAM FACTORS IN MALAYSIA

Which factors have the greater influence on family planning performance: fixed background variables such as racial composition, urbanisation, and mortality, which are affected by level of development, or program inputs such as assignment of personnel and location of clinics, which are subject to manipulation by administrators? An analysis of differences in family planning acceptance among 70 districts of Malaysia shows that two main program-manipulable variables - level of personnel deployment and accessibility of clinics - have the largest direct effect upon acceptance levels. Variations in background factors explain a smaller proportion. -Author