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As part of its teacher training program series on population education, the Population Education Unit of the Tribhuvan University organized a one-week training course on population education from 5-11 July 1994. Attended by 20 teacher educators who are involved in teaching population education in their respective campuses, the training provided opportunities for upgrading the participants' knowledge, and changing their attitudes and behavior with regard to population concepts. It also developed their skills in more effective methodologies for teaching population education in their campuses. The Faculty of Education, through its Population Education Unit, has been introducing population education in its teacher training program under the UNFPA-funded country program. This is done through incorporating population education contents into different subject areas such as health education, geography and economics in the curriculum of Proficiency Certificate Level, Bachelor Level and Master Degree. In addition, it has been offering population education as major subject at the Proficiency Certificate Level in Mahendra Ratna Campus. Thirteen resource persons from Tribhuvan University, Curriculum Development Center of the University and UNFPA Field Office and Country Support Team, Kathmandu, provided lectures on the following topics: population education in Asia and the Pacific, population situation in Nepal, demography and population dynamics, population theories, curriculum development in population education, teaching methods, human sexuality, STDs and AIDS, population education program, research, and population policy., (full text)

Cambodia is currently undertaking reforms of its educational system both in structure and substance. Under these reforms, the Ministry of Education (MOE) is revising its curricula and textbooks in selective subjects. The government and UNFPA saw a timely opportunity to introduce population education concepts into three subjects, geography, home science, and moral education and civics from grades 7 to 12. To pave the way for this activity, the UNFPA and the government discussed the development of a pilot project that will concentrate first on the training of small numbers of professional educators and development of a first draft of curricula and textbooks including teacher's guides which could be tried out in this pilot stage and reproduced during the second phase. The project document has been prepared with the assistance of CST adviser on population education, Mr. Ansar Ali Khan, based in CST Bangkok, and is now under review., (full text)

Various UNFPA-funded population programs are now in place in six provinces and the capital and some more are in the pipeline. The ones currently being implemented include projects on maternal and child health and birth spacing, national population census, improvement of family health of displaced persons, and socio-economic research. Those in the pipeline are population education in the school system, gender and population issues, and population and environment. All the programs mentioned have implications for information, education and communication (IEC). To implement these programs effectively, UNFPA and the government realized the need for IEC support. To provide a coherent, integrated and holistic approach to the provision of IEC support to all the UNFPA-funded population activities, a programmatic approach to IEC was developed with the assistance of CST adviser on population communication, Mr. Francisco Roque. The IEC program will basically support the government policy of providing voluntary birth spacing services as a means to promote better maternal and child health through IECM activities; and to provide adequate information to selected target groups required to bring about desired behavioral changes in responsible reproductive decision-making and lifestyle. The target groups to be reached include: service providers and health workers, policymakers and administrators, women of reproductive age, men, and the adolescents aged 15-19 as well as teachers and trainers. The IEC interventions hope to create awareness of the benefits of birth spacing, introduce population concepts in curricula and appropriate health/teaching materials in selected medical schools and secondary schools, reduce misconceptions, provide proper counseling, and sustain government's interest and commitment to the population program., (full text)

After years of hesitancy, due to financial and manufacturing problems, the Chinese Government has finally moved to replace the steel ring IUD with the Copper T. The steel ring, used by some 60 million women, has been pronounced unreliable by the WHO and is blamed for some 30% of the country's 10 million annual abortions. It will no longer be manufactured. China has received financial and technical assistance from the UNFPA to establish 2 factories to produce the Copper T 220 and next year it will expand this capacity, as well as starting production of the Copper T 380-A. The introduction of the newer IUD is likely to prevent the following events during the next 10 years: 55,600 pregnancies, 18,400 live births, 35,600 induced abortions, 16.300 maternal deaths. 365,000 infant deaths, and 28,800 child deaths. The cheaper IUD was used by more than 40% of Chinese women using modern contraception, making it the country's most common contraceptive method., (full text)