United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

Will HIV/AIDS Levels in Asia Reach the Level of Sub-Saharan Africa? (View Point) (PDF, 47 KB)
By John C. Caldwell
Potential for Reducing Child and Maternal Mortality through Reproductive and Child Health Intervention Programmes: An Illustrative Case Study from India (PDF, 131 KB)
By Minja Kim Choe and Jiajian Chen

According to the assessment made in 2003 by the United Nations Economic
and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), UNDP and ADB,
among 47 countries in the ESCAP region with data available, 60 per cent have
already met or are expected to meet Goal 4 of the Millennium Development Goals. Progression towards Goal 5 has been slower: one third of the countries have already met the Goal or are expected to meet it. Country-level analysis of available data suggests that among poor countries, Indonesia and Bangladesh stand out as making good progresses in meeting Goals 4 and 5. In those countries, reduction of unwanted and high-risk births through high-level prevalence of contraceptive use seem to have played very important roles in reducing child and maternal mortality.
India is classified as progressing slowly towards Goal 4 and regressing in achieving Goal 5 as of 2003. However, 12 out of 17 major states with data, including some poor states, show declines in under-five mortality exceeding the level required to achieve the Goal. The present analysis shows that early child mortality can be reduced substantially in India, beyond the level necessary to meet Goal 4 through increased utilization of reproductive and child health programmes even when poverty, women’s education, and community-level sanitary conditions do not change. Under-five mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio are highly correlated, and they share common set of determinants. Thus, the intervention programmes that would bring about a reduction in under-five mortality rate are likely to reduce maternal mortality ratio as well.
Readiness, Willingness and Ability to Use Contraception in Bangladesh (PDF, 91 KB)
By Haider Rashid Mannan and Roderic Beaujot

This study attempted to measure Easterlin’s notion of motivation or readiness to control fertility and Coale’s two preconditions of fertility decline-willingness, and ability. It examined their impacts on the fertility regulating behaviour of women in view of the rapid fertility decline in Bangladesh. It was observed that with the exception of women without living children, most women want to control their reproduction. For most women fertility regulation was found acceptable on normative and health-related grounds. This is an important finding considering that it has not been examined before. In addition, for most women family planning methods are available, accessible and affordable. It is not possible to know from this study whether and when those conditions have directly played roles in the Bangladesh fertility decline. However, the study implied that the sociocultural changes which are favourable to fertility transition have already taken place in Bangladesh. Regardless of controlling for the background variables, logistic regression analysis indicated that alike readiness and ability, willingness to regulate fertility also leads to significantly higher contraceptive use. The three variables are the principal determinants of contraceptive use and are acting as intervening variables between most of the background variables and contraceptive use. However, changes in the background characteristics are key to changes in the readiness, willingness and ability to use contraception.

Singapore’s Family Values: Do They Explain Low Fertility? (PDF, 97 KB)
By Alexius A. Pereira

Many individuals and policy makers in Singapore believe that society’s “family values” are being eroded because of processes such as rapid economic development, industrialization and globalization. They believe that this erosion is one of the most important reasons why fewer Singaporeans are getting married and having fewer or no children, as found in the Singapore Census of Population 2000. This paper analyses the Singapore-leg of the World Values Survey, conducted in 2002, which contains data on how Singaporeans value family, marriage and parenthood. It finds that Singaporeans generally still feel that the family is very important, that marriage is not an outdated institution, and that they would like to bear several children, if possible. Deeper analysis, however, uncovers some differences in opinion between “younger” and “older” Singaporeans, which might suggest that in the future significant value change might take place. This paper concludes that Singapore’s contemporary family values are unlikely to be the primary reason behind the declining fertility and marriage rates. It concludes that Singapore must be facing a “social problem” as there is a sizable gap between society’s aspirations and the reality.

International Labour Recruitment: Channelling Bangladeshi Labour to East and South-East Asia (PDF, 151 KB)
By Lian Kwen Fee and Md Mizanur Rahman

International labour recruitment in Asia has been dominated by recruiting agencies and brokers, who act as intermediaries between workers and foreign employers. This paper argues that the investigation of temporary labour migration flows requires examination of the complex infrastructure of entrepreneurial actors and activities that facilitates labour movement between two countries and that constitutes the migration industry. Focusing on the prevailing temporary labour migration programmes, this paper describes the role of migration institution in the channelling of Bangladeshi labour to themajor host countries of East and South-East Asia. The findings suggest that, despite the persistent need for migrant workers, some countries in the region, with the exception of Singapore, pursue non-transparent recruitment policies. This lack of transparency has mainly contributed to the proliferation of unauthorized syndicates, and a network of agents, brokers and travel agencies. Bangladeshi migrant workers risk a large amount of cash to realize a dream overseas and become vulnerable to victimization.