Family
Planning in the United States
Amid growing
consensus about the need for domestic family-planning services, the
Foundation made its first grants in direct support of such efforts
in the United States. It has been assisting programs in
less-developed countries for several years.
To help local
groups and agencies develop enough family-planning programs to keep
pace with funds becoming available from government agencies, the
Planned Parenthood Federation of America received $400,000 for a
three-year technical assistance program. The Federation, a
voluntary health agency with affiliates in thirtysix states and the
District of Columbia, provided family-planning services and advice
to more than 300,000 women in 1965. It will now provide consultants
on developing and funding programs to enable communities to make
birth-control information and services more readily available.
The American
Public Health Association, a major professional and accrediting
organization, was granted $250,000 to help expand the nation's
capacity to train health professionals in population and family
planning. A.P.H.A. will encourage teaching of these subjects in
schools of medicine, social work, nursing, and public
health—including refresher courses for professionals already
in service. It will also publish teaching materials, establish
curriculum standards for schools of public health, and assist the
family-planning work of health and welfare agencies and
hospitals.
The National
Urban League, which considers family planning an important element
in efforts to strengthen Negro family life, received funds to study
accessibility of services to low-income families. With advice from
community leaders and experts, the League will develop a program to
promote family-planning services and encourage low-income families
to use them.
Since
low-income families in some areas fail to continue use of
family-planning services, Wake Forest College received $370,000 to
explore ways of tailoring services more closely to thier needs and
preferences. At a family-planning clinic operated by the college's
Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 40
per cent of women referred by the welfare department either do not
appear or drop out early. In cooperation with the University of
North Carolina, the school will interview husbands and wives and
modify its program in light of their reasons for rejecting the
services. Changes that prove effective will be incorporated in
training for family-planning workers.
Population Studies
The
Foundation granted $2,150,000 in continued support of population
studies centers at Georgetown University and the Universities of
Chicago and North Carolina. The Georgetown program, which the
Foundation has assisted since 1960, conducts population research
related to Roman Catholic attitudes, gives a master's degree course
in demography, and offers summer institutes in population for
clergy and lay teachers. The university also conducts basic
research and clinical studies to improve the rhythm method of birth
control.
Drawing from
fifteen university departments and cooperating with local health
and welfare agencies, North Carolina's Population Studies Center
uses the entire state as a laboratory to study population problems
and train specialists. A special one-semester course in
biostatistics has enrolled foreign trainees from Africa, India, and
Turkey. The center also helps institutions overseas develop their
own family-planning training and research.
The
University of Chicago's Community and Family Study Center offers
graduate training and conducts research in motivation,
communication, and administrative aspects of family-planning
action. The 1966 grant will support new master's-degree programs
for American public-health professionals planning to work overseas
in family planning and for foreign teachers and researchers. Also
supported are postgraduate internships for nurses, social workers,
and other professionals