Abstract
In Bangladesh, family planning workers’ visits reduce the costs of contraception and may increase the demand. If visits increase demand or if workers are targeting their visits, past visits by family planning workers should have a positive and significant effect on later probabilities of adopting contraceptive methods. Longitudinal data show that past visits are not significant in hazard models for adoption of contraceptive methods, whereas visits in the current round are significant. Therefore family planning workers’ visits affect women’s contraceptive behavior by decreasing the costs of contraception. Results of contraceptive discontinuation hazard models further support this hypothesis.
The text of this article is only available as a PDF.
References
Amin, S., Diamond, I., & Steele, F. (
1996
). Contraception and Religious Practice in Bangladesh
. New York
: Population Council
.Arends-Kuenning, M. (
1997
). How Do Family Planning Worker Visits Affect Women’s Behavior in Bangladesh?
. New York
: Population Council
.Arends-Kuenning, M. (
1997
). The Equity and Efficiency of the Family Planning Program in Bangladesh
. New York
: Population Council
.Arends-Kuenning, M., Hossain, M.B., & Khuda, B. (
1999
). The Effects of Family Planning Workers’ Contact on Fertility Preferences: Evidence From Bangladesh
. Studies in Family Planning
, 30
(3
), 183
–92
. 10.1111/j.1728-4465.1999.00183.xArthur, W.B., & McNicholl, G. (
1978
). An Analytical Survey of Population and Development in Bangladesh
. Population and Development Review
, 4
, 23
–80
. 10.2307/1972147Balk, D. (
1994
). Individual and Community Aspects of Women’s Status and Fertility in Rural Bangladesh
. Population Studies
, 48
, 21
–46
. 10.1080/0032472031000147456Bangladesh Population Census 1981: Community Tables of All Thanas of Jessore District
. (1985
). Dhaka
: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
.Bangladesh Population Census 1981: Community Tables of All Thanas of Khulna District
. (1985
). Dhaka
: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
.Bangladesh Population Census 1981: Community Tables of All Thanas of Tangail District
. (1985
). Dhaka
: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
.Bangladesh Population Census 1981: Community Tables of All Thanas of Pabna District
. (1986
). Dhaka
: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
.Bangladesh Population Census 1991: National Series, Vol. 2, Union Statistics
. (1993
). Dhaka
: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
.Becker, S., Chowdhury, A., & Leridon, H. (
1986
). Seasonal Patterns of Reproduction in Matlab, Bangladesh
. Population Studies
, 40
, 457
–72
. 10.1080/0032472031000142356Cain, M. (
1977
). The Economic Activities of Children in a Village in Bangladesh
. Population and Development Review
, 3
, 201
–27
. 10.2307/1971889Clark, S.D., Hossain, M.B., Shah, C., & Hasan, Y. (
1986
). First Report on Visits, Topics Discussed, and Services Received From Government Health and Family Planning Workers by Eligible Women in Two Subdistricts and Two Comparison Areas From April 1984 to March 1985
. Dhaka
: MCH-FP Extension Project
.Cleland, J., Phillips, J.F., Amin, S., & Kamal, G.M. (
1994
). The Determinants of Reproductive Change in Bangladesh
. Washington, DC
: World Bank
.Demeny, P. (
1975
). Observations on Population Policy and Population Program in Bangladesh
. Population and Development Review
, 1
, 307
–21
. 10.2307/1972227Haaga, J.G. and R.M. Maru. 1994. “How, and When, Do Operations Research Projects Contribute to Population Policy? Experience of the MCH-FP Extension Project in Bangladesh, 1983–93.” Presented at the annual meetings of the Population Association of America, May 5–7, Miami.
Heckman, J., & Singer, B. (
1984
). A Method for Minimizing the Impact of Distributional Assumptions in Econometric Models for Duration Data
. Econometrica
, 52
, 271
–320
. 10.2307/1911491Heckman, J., & Singer, B. (
1984
). Econometric Duration Analysis
. Journal of Econometrics
, 24
, 63
–122
. 10.1016/0304-4076(84)90075-7Hermalin, A.I. (
1982
). Some Cautions in the Use and Interpretation of Regression Analysis for the Evaluation of Family Planning Programs
Evaluation of the Impact of Family Planning Programmes on Fertility: Sources of Variance
(pp. 265
–67
). New York
: United Nations
.Hossain, M.B., & Phillips, J.F. (
1996
). The Impact of Outreach on the Continuity of Contraceptive Use in Rural Bangladesh
. Studies in Family Planning
, 27
, 98
–106
. 10.2307/2138137Koblinsky, M., Brechin, S.J.G., Clark, S.D., & Hasan, M.Y. (
1989
). Helping Managers to Manage: Work Schedules of Field-Workers in Rural Bangladesh
. Studies in Family Planning
, 20
, 225
–34
. 10.2307/1966840Levin, A., Amin, A., Rahman, A., Saifi, R., Khuda, B., & Mozumder, A.B.M.K. (
1999
). Cost-Effectiveness of Family Planning and Maternal Health Service Delivery Strategies in Rural Bangladesh
. International Journal of Health Planning and Management
, 14
, 219
–33
. 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1751(199907/09)14:3<219::AID-HPM549>3.0.CO;2-NMita, R., & Simmons, R. (
1995
). Diffusion of the Culture of Contraception: Program Effects on Young Women in Rural Bangladesh
. Studies in Family Planning
, 26
, 1
–14
. 10.2307/2138046Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 1996–1997
. (1997
). Calverton, MD
: Macro International
.Moffitt, R., & Rendall, M. (
1993
). Cohort Trends in the Lifetime Distribution of Female Headship in the U.S., 1968–1985
. Providence, RI
: Brown University Population Studies and Training Center
.Montgomery, M., & Casterline, J. (
1993
). The Diffusion of Fertility Control in Taiwan: Evidence From Pooled Cross-Section Time-Series Models
. Population Studies
, 47
, 457
–80
. 10.1080/0032472031000147246Mozumder, A.B.M.K., Koenig, M.A., Phillips, J.F., & Murad, S. (
1991
). The Sample Registration System: An Innovative System for Monitoring Demographic Dynamics
. Asia-Pacific Population Journal
, 5
(3
), 63
–72
.Phillips, J.F. (
1990
). Translating Pilot Project Success Into National Policy Development: The Matlab and MCH-FP Extension Projects in Bangladesh
. In S. Halstead, & J. Walsh (Eds.), Why Things Work: Case Histories in Development
(pp. 19
–35
). Boston
: Adams
.Phillips, J.F., Hossain, M.B., & Arends-Kuenning, M. (
1996
). The Long-Term Demographic Role of Community-Based Family Planning in Rural Bangladesh
. Studies in Family Planning
, 27
, 204
–19
. 10.2307/2137954Phillips, J.F., Hossain, M.B., Simmons, R., & Koenig, M.A. (
1993
). Worker-Client Exchanges and Contraceptive Use in Rural Bangladesh
. Studies in Family Planning
, 24
, 329
–42
. 10.2307/2939243Phillips, J.F., Simmons, R., Koenig, M.A., & Chakraborty, J. (
1988
). Determinants of Reproductive Change in a Traditional Society
. Studies in Family Planning
, 19
, 313
–34
. 10.2307/1966627Phillips, J.F., Simmons, R., Simmons, G., & Yunus, M. (
1984
). Transferring Health and Family Planning Service Innovations to the Public Sector: An Experiment in Organization Development in Bangladesh
. Studies in Family Planning
, 15
, 62
–73
. 10.2307/1966047Rosenzweig, M., & Schultz, T.P. (
1982
). Child Mortality and Fertility in Colombia: Individual and Community Effects
. Health Policy and Education
, 2
, 305
–48
. 10.1016/0165-2281(82)90015-7Routh, S., & Khuda, B. (
2000
). An Economic Appraisal of Alternative Strategies for the Delivery of MCH-FP Services in Urban Dhaka, Bangladesh
. International Journal of Health Planning and Management
, 15
, 115
–32
. 10.1002/1099-1751(200004/06)15:2<115::AID-HPM586>3.0.CO;2-6Schuler, S.R., Hashemi, S.M., & Jenkins, A. (
1995
). Bangladesh’s Family Planning Success Story: A Gender Perspective
. International Family Planning Perspectives
, 21(4
, 132
–37
. 10.2307/2133319Simmons, R. (
1996
). Women’s Lives in Transition: A Qualitative Analysis of the Fertility Decline in Bangladesh
. Studies in Family Planning
, 27
, 251
–68
. 10.2307/2137997Simmons, R., Baqee, L., Koenig, M.A., & Phillips, J.F. (
1988
). Beyond Supply: The Importance of Female Family Planning Workers in Rural Bangladesh
. Studies in Family Planning
, 19
, 29
–38
. 10.2307/1966737Simmons, R., Mita, R., & Koenig, M.A. (
1992
). Employment in Family Planning and Women’s Status in Bangladesh
. Studies in Family Planning
, 23
, 97
–109
. 10.2307/1966539Steele, F., Diamond, I., & Wang, D. (
1996
). The Determinants of the Duration of Contraceptive Use in China: A Multilevel Multinomial Discrete-Hazards Modeling Approach
. Demography
, 33
, 12
–23
. 10.2307/2061710© Population Association of America 2001
2001