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Family Planning Stories From the Field As advocates for international family planning assistance, the Global Population and Environment Program works to bring family planning stories from abroad home to our activists. It is imperative that we understand the intricate connections among women’s health, the health of the environment and the need for the United States government to provide foreign aid assistance for international family planning and reproductive health programs. In the Family Planning Spotlight: Madagascar Vohary Salama, a community centered Health-Population-Environment Program in Madagascar, is a program implemented by Malagasy NGOs with support from USAID, The Packard Foundation, Summit Foundation and Foundation Tany Meva. Vohary Salama provides communities with technical and financial assistance within a regional framework, while ensuring a sustainable approach to development. The program works to improve the quality of life and health of local people and preserve the fragile and diverse ecosystems of Madagascar. For more information about this initiative, contact Jennifer Talbot, Population-Environment Fellow at talbotmg@yahoo.com. Read more about USAID's work in Madagascar.
Population and Environment in Madagascar Madagascar is considered a “hotspot” of biodiversity for its incredible flora and fauna, stretching from the dense rainforests of the northeast to the dry and spiny forests in the south. 85% of Madagascar’s 12,000 plant species are endemic-found only in Madagascar, and 95 % of the more than 400 species of reptiles are endemic including one half of the world’s chameleons. Madagascar is best known for its 33 species of endemic lemurs.
Unfortunately, 80% of the Madagascar forests are already lost and the deforestation rate continues at 250,000 ha/year. The majority of this deforestation is due to unsustainable slash and burn techniques used by rural agriculturalists living around the forests. In addition, the health status of these farmers and of their children is very low. In these regions, only 37% of children are completely vaccinated and only 9% of women use family planning. In order to reduce pressure on the forests and improve the health status of the local populations, twenty conservation, health and rural development partners from 5 biodiverse regions of Madagascar joined together to form a consortium called Voahary Salama ("Healthy Nature").
The Voahary Salama partners have a common vision of "a healthy population living in a healthy environment based on sustainable development and on a rational management of natural resources on the community-level." The central philosophy of Voahary Salama activities is that "by integrating natural resource management with population and health, together they will be more effective and sustainable than unlinked, single-sector approaches." One of the biodiverse regions in the eastern part of the country is a forest corridor linking the Ankeniheny forest with Zahamena National Park. In the southern part of the forest corridor, two Voahary Salama partners, a health service NGO and an eco-regional conservation and development project, are collaborating on a wide range of activities in 18 villages. One of the key health activities is family planning. In this region, only 10% of women use modern family planning methods. Traditional beliefs, resistance from traditional leaders (tangalamena) and resistance from men, in general, have slowed the adoption of family planning. For villagers, children are gifts from God and only He can determine the number of children in a family. Also, clearing and working land leads to ownership and having many children means more workers. Also, having 10 children (zaza folo) in the family is very prestigious. After the 10th child is born, the family holds a big ceremony and sacrifices a cow.
In order to meet these challenges, we designed a program that trains male and female community health workers to spread family planning messages. Men work with men and women with women, thereby respecting local traditions surrounding sexuality. Each village has a local male and female community contraceptive distribution agent. They sell oral contraceptives, condoms and spermicides. When villagers need more information or choose other family planning methods, they are referred to the local health center.
We have seen that the number of family planning adopters has increased and thus the women in the community are able to participate much more in agriculture production since they spend less time taking care of their children. The women have vegetable gardens, use compost made from organic waste and are also able to help their husbands practice new agriculture techniques such as intensified rice culture, fish farming and fruit tree orchards. By adopting a wide range of good health, agriculture and conservation practices, we hope that villagers who work with Voahary Salama partners will be healthier and help to conserve the important biodiversity of Madagascar.
Back to Winter 2003 Population Report
photos coutesy of USAID
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